Andersons Railcar Services

Andersons needs so much railroad equipment to handle their grain, ethanol, corn oil, distiller dried grains, fertilizer, etc. that in the 1990s they created a Railcar Group that handles:

• leasing 22,000 railcars and locomotives
• railcar repair including a wash, blast, paint and cure shop in Maumee, OH and four tankcar repair locations.
• fabrication in Maumee, OH. Looking at the pictures on that page, they not only fabricate parts for railcar repairs but for equipment needed to repair their grain elevators, ethanol plants, etc.

Andersons Fabrication

They have a computer controlled plasma cutter that can handle 9'x12' plates up to 1.5" thick.

Update: Andersons has a fleet of more than 23,000 railcars that it leases. Evidently it has coal cars because the article is talking about the downturn of coal. 59% is covered hoppers and 14% are tankers. So is the other 27% coal?The unit is still profitable. But it is not as profitable as it used to be. The rail unit is just 4% of revenues, but it was the most profitable. [TheBlade]