Cathcart Rail Holdings said it has completed its acquisition of The Andersons’ railcar repair business.
The deal was announced in May. Terms were not disclosed.
Cathcart is based in Columbus and operates the Belpre Industrial Pakersburg Railroad among other businesses related to rail car repair.
It has more than 1,000 employees at more than 100 locations around the country.
Columbus-based Cathcart Rail will acquire the rail-car repair division of The Andersons. The deal is expected to close this summer.
In a news release, The Andersons said the sale will complete the agricultural company’s exit from the rail car business.
“The Andersons rail-car repair network aligns perfectly with Cathcart Rail’s strategic goal of offering a broad array of rail services across a national footprint,” said Cathcart Chairman and CEO Casey Cathcart in the news release.
Cathcar Rail is a private freight-rail company offering repair facilities, field services and rail services.
Cathcart Rail and its financial partner, Star America Infrastructure Partners, have acquired Appalachian Railcar Services, a railcar repair and maintenance company based in Eleanor, West Virginia.
ARS had been held by GenNx360 Capital Partners, a private equity firm investing in middle-market business services and industrial companies.
The company provides certified tank car and freight car repair in 10 locations located between Maryland and Nebraska.
It services include interior and exterior cleaning, coating, and lining services; mobile repair; on-site customer repair operations; switching operations; and railcar storage. It serves companies in the agriculture, chemicals, manufacturing, energy, food processing and logistics industries throughout the Midwest, Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions.
The combinaed ARS and Cathcart will employ 800 people across 60 locations in 22 states.
Cathcart, founded in 2015 by Thomas Cathcart and his son Casey, is a diversified freight rail platform operating across the services and transportation sectors.
Its holdings include Bucyrus Railcar Repair based in Bucyrus; and the 48-mile Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad based in Marietta.
A short line railroad that took over a CSX branch in far southern Ohio this past May is looking to double its traffic over the next year to 18 months.
The Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad is operating the 48-mile line between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Relief, Ohio, via Marietta.
Casey Cathcart, president of owner Cathcart Rail Holdings, told Trains magazine that it has already managed to convert to rail some traffic that had been moving by truck or barge and is looking to make additional conversions.
The short line has also provided storage for tank cars owned by a refinery along the line and is looking to develop a tank car cleaning service.
The short line has a dozen customers, most of whom are in the business of metals, plastics, and petrochemicals and clustered in a 10-mile corridor along the Ohio side of the Ohio River.
Cathcart believes the Marcellus and Utica shale gas fields are the key to growth in the region.
“We’re all of the opinion that over the next 10 to 20 years there’s going to be a massive manufacturing boom throughout this region as a result of petrochemicals and plastics,” Cathcart said.
That could lead to the development of several parcels along the railroad.
The track on the former 39-mile CSX Marietta Subdivision is welded rail. The line features some street running in Marietta and crosses the Ohio River on substantial 4,300-foot bridge located on the 5.29-mile Parkersburg Running Track.
Whereas CSX served those shippers five days a week, BIPR has increased service to daily.
BIPR employs and leases three GP38-3 locomotives painted gray and black with a gold stripe. A fourth locomotive is expected to arrive shortly.
Cathcart Rail also operates a railcar repair business in Bucyrus.
A short line operator has agreed to lease a CSX branch that runs for 39 miles in Ohio and West Virginia.
The Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad will take over operations on the CSX Marietta Subdivision on or about May 2.
The Marietta Sub extends from Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Relief, Ohio, via Marietta.
The transaction also includes the Parkersburg Running Track, which extends for 5.29 miles between High Yard in Parkersburg to Belpre, Ohio.
Owned by Ohio-based Cathcart Rail Holdings, the BIPR is expected to employ eight, including four train service personnel, two maintenance of way workers, a track inspector and a locomotive mechanic.
Bucyrus Railcar Repair has acquired the property of the former American & Ohio Locomotive Crane Company.
A&O recently moved its Bucyrus operations to Duluth, Minnesota, following its acquisition by IPS Cranes.
The A&O facility is located on 25 acres and has 163,000 feet of space under roof. It also has 10 repair spots and a yard capacity of 75 cars.
The transaction included overhead cranes, mobile cranes, a blast and paint booth, rail scale, and fabrication machinery. BRR hopes to soon have the capability of dismantling rail cars
Located south of the BRR plant, the consolidation with the A&O property expands the BRR complex to 60 acres and 330,000 square feet under roof.
BRR is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cathcart Rail Holdings. The Burcyrus facility is AAR M-100, M-970, and M-992 certified, with additional accreditation underway.
The complex is switched by Norfolk Southern but also has access to CSX and the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern.
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