DispatchtheThe newsletter for Watco Companies, LLC and Watco Transportation Services, LLC April 2011, Volume 12, Issue 4

by Ted KadauMarketing Manager, PCC & GRNW

Watco’s Wallula, Wash., switching team hit a major milestone in their mission to operate safety in early March – celebrating three years injury-free. The crew services the Boise, Inc. paper mill at Wallula, providing internal railcar switching and track repair services.

In celebration of the milestone event, Watco’s West Region manage-ment team held a barbeque for the Wallula team members on March 10, presenting them with coats and hats embossed with the Watco “Customer First” logo.

“This is just a great effort by all Team Members. Operating three years without an injury shows a real focus on safety. Our exceptional crew at Wallula has gone over 1,095 days without an injury – and they are still going strong! We need to stay focused, humble and continue making great things happen,” Rob Thrall, regional vice president of operations for Watco’s West Region, said.

Watco began servicing the Wallula mill in 1987, and today provides 16-20 hour-per-day service to the Boise mill, interchanging cars from both the Burling-ton Northern & Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroad and then spotting them at a variety of docks and other locations within the mill.

“The Wallula Mill Team congratulates the Watco Team for accomplishing three years without an injury,” Pat Clevenger, fin-ishing and shipping super-intendent for Boise, Inc., at Wallula, said. “We recognize that this is no small feat as the Watco Team is out in the field doing tasks that require good training, communica-tion skills, teamwork and the physical capabilities to

keep the rail cars moving. Three years without an injury shows that the entire Watco Team is commit-ted to doing a good job and keeping their co-workers safe. Again, the Wallula Mill Team congratulates and thanks the Watco Wallula team on a job well done.”

Clevenger, along with Boise, Inc. employees Gloria

Stearns, Whitepaper 1 production planner; Juanita Weber, Whitepaper 2 production planner; and Wayne Nye, shipping supervisor, attended the March 10 event, and enjoyed barbeque and cake with the Wallula crew.

“We just have a great group here at Wallula,” Mark Ready, general manager at the Wal-lula switching operation, said. “I just couldn’t be happier to be part of the winning team of Watco here at Wallua. Our team members strive to give the Customer the service they need, when they need it and they do it safely.”

When asked what the secret is to operating three years injury-free, Ready noted that it’s key to focus on areas that can cause problems, and then working to remain mindful every minute of every day that the ultimate goal is send all team mem-bers home safely to their families.

“We have identified certain areas in our operation that we test on a regular basis so we make sure we do not have safety issues,” he said. “When you look at the fact that, as an industry, rail operations can

have problems with work-related hazards, we have a team here at Wallula that has operated without an incident for 36 months. That is just incredible.”

Jerry Carter, director of operations for Watco’s West Region, said he is look-ing forward to many more injury-free years of out-standing safety and service at Wallula.

“I am just extremely proud of each and every one of our team members at Wallula,” he said. “This ef-fort does not go unnoticed. It takes a very special team to operate for three years without an injury and our management team appreci-ates every team member at this operation.”

Wallula Switching Team celebrates three years injury-free

From left, front row: Ted Kadau, marketing manager; Mark Ready, general manager; Albert Gonzalez, switchman/operator; Amanda Santana, office clerk and Keith Reed, track supervisor.From left, back row: Karl Fuchs, switchman/operator; Pete Tietjen, West Region Quality Assur-ance Manager

From left to right: Andy Brown, switchman/operator; Jake McChesney, switchman/operator; Karl Fuchs, switch-man/operator; Jody Hyndshaw, switchman/operator; Jeff Hall, switchman/operator and Jose Romero, assistant general manager.

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Team Member Appreciation DayWatco Team Members across the country received thanks for all their hard

work on March 4, Team Member Appreciation Day. The locations celebrated the day in several different ways, many locations were able to enjoy a barbecue cooked by their managers or the team “chef ”, other locations were treated to meals brought in for the team.

The Hollidaysburg, Pa., mechanical shop got creative and held a drawing during their pizza and sub lunch. Two winners were chosen by pulling names out of a box and then they asked the team member if he had his Customer First Founda-tion Principles card in his wallet. If the team member was not carrying his card, he did not win and a new name was pulled. The two winners were Richard E. Heverly, Jr., cleaning rack leadman and David Kline, inventory control specialist.

Because Rich and Dave (below)were carrying their Customer First Foundation Principles card each won a $25 gift card to Wal~Mart.

Thanks to all the great Watco Team Mem-bers for all you do each day!

WTS - Port Neches, TX

K&O Railroad

KAW Railroad

WTIS - Stanley , ND “A” Crew

WTIS -Stroud, OK

WTIS-Oklahoma City, OK

WMS - Hockley, TX SLWC Railroad

WTS - APM Alvin, TX

WTS - TPC Houston, TX

WTIS - Rockford, IL

WMS - Hollidaysburg, PA

WMS - Council Bluffs, IA

GRNW Railroad

WMS- Hollidaysburg, PA

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by Michele HowardSafety Administrative Assistant

Watco recently served as a “think tank” so to speak for the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Team. From March 14 - 18 they gathered together at the Pitts-burg, Kan., office to share ideas and talents. These daily meetings usually lasted about 10 to 12 hours and was certainly the first in-house EHS manager meeting of its kind. This was also the first time most of them had the opportunity to meet each other

Much time was spent in the first days determining what talents and capabilities each member offered and how those talents could be merged into a network for self-help and future improvement. Each person pre-pared a PowerPoint presentation regarding a topic they would have to train on and they were presented for comments for improvement.

One of the main topics of focus for this group was to identify components of a new-hire training program that would result in a more valuable asset to the company, reduce turnover and improve safety. This exercise has been done for the railroad/switching services with great success.

The managers were also given information regarding the new Bonus Bucket program and they worked on Summer Spike posters and topics covered during Summer Spike.

All EHS managers received a DVD at the end of the meetings that contained all the presentations given during the meeting, the new training programs and examinations they developed and the proposed new hire

training schedules/curriculums, plus many other train-ing items and exam questions from the current rule-book not used in the new hire training.

The following attended the summit: Gary Vaughn, vice president safety and environmental health; Ron Withers, safety director mechanical, and managers: Butch Harris, Junction City, Kan.; Larry Wise, Jack-sonville, Fla.; Zach Luckie, Fitzgerald, Ga.; Ted Houck, Marshall, Texas; James Pearson, Zwolle, La.; James Lloyd, Hockley, Texas, Bob Kristof, Wood River, Ill.; Ray Barroner, Hollidaysburg, Pa., and John Murray, Neodesha, Kan.

James Pearson, EHS Manager Zwolle, said, “After countless conference calls and phone conversations, it was nice to finally put faces to the voices. I thought the summit was an important and successful step in the progression of uniformity for policies and procedures at all mechanical shops.”

Environmental Health and Safety managers converge for summit

This section is to pro-vide examples of the Watco Team put-ting the Customer First principles in action.

Watco Customer Atlas Resin Proppants was recently awarded a “Team Commitment to the Community” special award from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and the Business of the Year Award by the Black River Area Chamber of Commerce. While they were receiving acknowledgement

for their accomplishments, management at At-las also took the time to commend the team on the Louisiana Southern Railroad for the service they provided in Minden, La.Pam Laufenberg, Atlas customer service repre-

sentative, works with Blake Smith, LAS yard-master and Chad Jasmin, LAS general man-ager, on a daily basis and said, “The guys are a pleasure to work with, at one point we had cars that we needed immediately or we would’ve had to shut down our two biggest customers, they stepped up to the plate and made sure that didn’t happen.“Blake’s understanding of the rail industry as a

whole is phenomenal and has helped us a great deal. The team in Minden has really done a super job for us and they deserve a pat on the back.”Ian Chapman, Atlas executive vice president,

sent a message complementing the LAS Team for working tirelessly to get cars into the Min-den facility and stated that he was extremely appreciative of their efforts.Chad Pantier, LAS general manager, credits

communication for the success they are having in meeting the Customer’s needs. “The lines of communication have been great

and we appreciate all of the teamwork involved to make this happen,” said Pantier. Kevin Wingate, LAS Marketing Manager, also

commended the LAS Team for a job well done. “Thanks to the team’s efforts and dedication

to the Customer we had a record month with Atlas last month.”Wingate also stated, “Things are really busy

right now with the boom in the oil and gas industry here so they’re going 24-7 and Atlas plans to build an additional silo on site this summer just to keep up with demand. We’ve already handled almost twice the number of cars as we did last year at this time.”

Customer First Foundation Principlesin action

EHS managers who attended the summit in Pittsburg, Kan., were treated to a local favorite, Chicken Mary’s.

SLWC rep ensures deliveryby Tracie VanBecelaereManaging Editor

Although Brenda Caruthers may not guarantee 30-minute delivery, the Stillwater Central Railroad (SLWC) customer service representative will do ev-erything she can to make sure her Customer gets the cars they need, so says Jim Weeks, Temple-Inland transportation director.

“I’ve been doing this for 11 years and Brenda really stands out, she’s done a great job,” said Weeks. “We talk almost daily and with her persistence and ex-pertise, she has expedited the process of getting the cars we need from Oklahoma City.”

Temple-Inland brings in empty flat rail cars and ships gypsum wallboard out of Fletcher, Okla. Both Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad bring cars into Oklahoma City so things can get bogged down at times and the cars going to Temple-Inland can get delayed. That’s when Caruthers begins to work her magic.

She reviews the cars that have been delivered to Oklahoma City and determines if they need to go to Temple-Inland, if so, she has an arrangement with

the UP that allows her to send the cars to her Cus-tomer as soon they are emptied.

“There are many times that if it weren’t for Brenda, we wouldn’t be able to load as much, “ said Weeks. “I appreciate all she does for us.”

Not one to take all the credit, Caruthers said that she couldn’t do it without the help of the railroad crew who pulls the cars and gets them on their way.

“I wouldn’t be able to provide the Customer ser-vice without the help of the Stillwa-ter team.

Engineers Joe Holcomb and Randall Mantin-eau and conduc-tors Jim Culburt-son and Daniel Reeves, along with the trainmaster Gary Goodwin, all focus on taking care of the Cus-tomer as well..”

Brenda Caruthers, SLWC custom-er service representative.

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April AnniversariesCongratulations to the following Watco Team Members who celebrate anniversaries in April.

1 Year: Grant Allen, Hayley Becker, Randy Bennett, Reggie Blocker, Llewellyn Boone, William Casey, Shon Christensen, Todd Cochran, Robert Cockman, Travis Collins, Justus D'Amico, Waylon Doyle, Bennie Ellison, Dustin Gannarelli, Allen Godfrey, John Grace, Rodney Halvorson, John Hargis, Michael Hnatiuk, Anto-nio Horacio, Anthony Hoyte, Houston Knight, Robert Large, Joseph Lee, Alberto Martinez, Michael McBride, Jordan Merritt, Benjamin Nordloef, Rachael Peterson, Jesus Ramirez, David Riley, Kevin Roth, Andrew Smith, Luis Soto, Nicole Steven-son, James Sullins, Paul Taylor, Dino Trevino, Thomas Twichell2 Years: Angela Bunker, Joseph Grupczynski, Dee Lautner, Billy Moore, Mark Moorlag, Michael Murphy, William Richmond, Troy Sickle, Samuel Weeks3 Years: Drew Drewenski, Chad Easterling, Steven Everett, Tye Gray, Chris Had-

dow, Russell Hamm, Brian Kovarik, Jason Lloyd, Joseph Magnone, Jose Martinez, Steven Mottaz, Curtis Rice,

Arnoldo Sandoval, Jeffery Smith4 Years: Joel Aguilar, Richard Brady, Joseph Brooks,

Tony Clark, Nickol Corr, Rebekah Garner, Ray Green, Joseph Holcomb, Jared Koehn, Matt McKen-zie, Tony Williamson5 Years: Jeffrey Allred, Shellee Currier, Marcus Field, Gerardo Horta, Grant Rasmussen, Ronald Thompson, David Tinnon6 Years: Jerad Brunskill, Brandon Eddleman,

Travis Fellers, Pat Foster, Carl Hauk, Justin Rhodes, Travis Tholen, Tracie Van Becelaere, Patrick White,

David Wilczewski

7 Years: Jason Alexander, Bertha Herrgesell, Valerie Kahley, Loren Parr8 Years: Shane Engle, Al Felder, Judith Johnson, Keith Kitson, Jeffery Smith9 Years: Brent Booth, Lisa Butts, Pat Cedeno, Jason Ebarb, Al Finn, John Galloway, Darren McComic, Joshua Remedies, Kenneth Sauter, Terry Towner10 Years: Shane Collins, Heather Huff11 Years: Wade Dallas, Jeanne Housel, Byron Marshall, Douglas Peterson, Dock Reese, Ronald Singleton12 Years: Paul Friedrichs, James Walton14 Years: Anthony Ange, Brandy Etheridge, Jeremy Findley, David Jena, Roger Kitzmiller, Tim Swearingen, Rick Vaughn15 Years: Kenneth Barber16 Years: Aaron Byle, Donald McCallum18 Years: Neal Jacobs19 Years: Michael Hill22 Years: Joseph Lidwell25 Years: Knut Hansen, Captain Zaragoza Trevino27 Years: Larry Bray, Harel Harrison, Larry Thomas28 Years: Anthony Decapio29 Years: Larry Vail, Dion Wilkens30 Years: James Bass32 Years: Carl Leone33 Years: Robert Neal34 Years: Donald Drobnoek, Walter Legette, Jack York36 Years: David Dial, Richard Duncan, Jerry York

Where in the worldis Watco?

As Watco grows and expands its reach across the globe many of our Customers and associates help spread the word about our Customer First Founda-tion Principles.

Steve Martin, category manager-logistics with CBH Group in Western Australia took this photo of our Watco CF cap on the Great Wall of China.

We’d like to know what other interesting places Watco has visited. E-mail your photos and descrip-tions to tvan@watcocompanies.com.

They call him Mister BassThe team at the Wood River mechanical shop may

know Steve Rhodes as “Inspector Rhodes” but the Belleville South Bassmasters call him by another name, Mr. Bass. Rhodes, a car inspector who has been with the shop for 35 years has spent even more time than that perfecting his hobby of bass fishing. The Bassmasters give the fishermen a point total

based a certain number of fish caught and the weight of the fish. Rhodes finished in first place with a score of 349 points which earned him his new title.

Although Rhode’s dad was the first to take him fish-ing, it was his big brother George who got him into bass fishing when he was about 10 years old. One of his most eventful trips happened to Rhodes when his son was about the same age.

“We were at Kitchen Lake in Illinois which is very deep and full of trees, on the way back after a day of fishing the boat got stuck on one of the treetops. Not wanting to scare my son I said since we were plan-ning to spend the night anyway we’d just stay there and wait until someone showed up, no big deal. Then about midnight it started thundering and lightening. Luckily, I was able to locate another tree nearby which I lassoed and after a struggle I was able to break free,” said Rhodes.

So far Rhodes biggest bass catch weighs in at 6.05 pounds which won him the Bassmaster’s Big Bass award that year (‘03). Rhodes is waiting for that big seven-pounder before anything gets mounted and placed above his fireplace. Right now, Rhodes doen’t even eat the fish he catches.

“It’s all catch and release. As Bassmasters, we do all we can to keep the fish alive so that we can release them. With the popularity of bass fishing, if everyone kept the fish they caught, it would be tough to keep the sport alive,” said Rhodes.

Rhodes and his wife Mary live in Mascoutah and have two children; Lauren, 19 and Brad, who is de-ceased.

Steve “Mr. Bass” Rhodes, Wood River, Ill., mechanical shop inspector.

BirthsDanika Marie Corr

Sean and Nickol Corr are pleased to announce the birth of their first child Danika Marie Corr. Danika Marie was born on January 16 and weighed 7 lbs. and was 19.5 inches long.

Sean is the Assis-tant Track Supervisor out of Rupert, Idaho, on the Eastern Idaho Railroad and Nickol is the Administrative Assistant out of the Twin Falls, Idaho office.

Austin Bryan LoebStefan and Lau-

ren Loeb welcomed a new son Austin Bryan to the Loeb family on March 7. He weighed in at 8 lbs., 11oz., and was 21.5 inches long.

Stefan is vice president of business development and currently resides in Chicago, Ill.

HonorsWatco’s Pittsburg United Way Committee was

presented with an award for being Crawford county’s most improved contributor for the 2011 campaign.

“It’s exciting to know that so many people at Watco can be generous even when the economy is tough. We are a competitive company and we really showed it during the 2011 campaign. Not only did we give a great gift to the agencies, but we came in as the top contributor,” said Heather Webb, committee chair-woman.

The United Way of Crawford County (UWCC) and the United Way of Southwest Missouri (UWSWMO) merged to become the United Way of Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas (UWSWMOSEK).

Agencies assisted by the United Way of Crawford County are the American Red Cross, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Catholic Charities, Crisis Resource Center of SE Kansas, Elm Acres Youth & Family Services, Fam-ily Resource Center, Girl Scout Council of the Ozark Area, Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, Kansas Legal Services, Kids First Day Care, Mother to Mother, Ozark Area Boy Scouts, Pittsburg Community Child Care, Pittsburg/Frontenac Transportation, SEK-CAP Emergency Shelter, SEK-CAP Transportation, SEK Respite Services, Salvation Army, United Cerebral Palsy, Wesley House, and Pittsburg Family YMCA.

King “Cola” wins cook-off

There aren’t many battles when you can say ev-eryone comes out a winner but that was the result

of the Breakfast Battle between Ray Pericola, division controller, and Kellie Sisler, vice president of revenue

contracts. Pericola took home the title of Breakfast King with his tasty breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls. Senorita Sisler wasn’t far behind with her spicy breakfast burritos.

The United Way of Southwest Missouri and South-east Kansas was the beneficiary of the battle which team members “voted” for a winner based on their $5 donation to the chef.

May GraduationsSoon members of the Watco Team and/

or their family members will be cross-ing stages across the country to receive their diplomas from various academic institutions. The Dispatch would like to acknowledge the hard work of all graduates from Watco fami-lies by listing them in May’s edition.

If you would like to have your graduate listed, send in the information in the following format:Graduates name: relationship to Watco Team mem-ber, Watco Team member’s title and location. The school graduate is attending and location of that school. If the graduate is receiving a degree from a college, university or trade school list the graduates degree type. An example would be: Billy Miskell: Son of Bill Miskell, car department supervisor in Oklahoma City, OK; graduating from Houston Baptist Uni-versity, Houston, TX with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Sociology.

Send your graduation information electronically to: tvan@watcocompanies.com. Please put Dispatch-May Graduation in the subject line. December

graduations we will be included with the May graduations.

Watco has ventured into the social media era so next time you’re on Facebook posting a photo or catching up with old friends visit the Watco

Companies page and “like” us. We’ll have photos, videos, team an-

nouncements, prizes and all kinds of infor-mation about Watco.

You’re also encouraged to post your pho-tos of Watco events and locations, it’s great to see what everyone on the team is doing.

Suggestions for what you would like to see on the page are welcome and you can send them to tvan@watcocompanies.com.

The Watco Team is fan-tastic so encour-age your friends and family to join and see what’s new at Watco.

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WAT CO

WO R L D

This section is dedicated to the Watco Team members to give you a chance to share what’s happening in your corner of the Watco World.

Find us on Facebook

Danika Marie Corr

UWCC board members present the Watco United Way Committee with the “Most Improved” award. Left to right are: Cynthia McCo-nnell-Cross, UWCC vice president; Dorothea Hurlbut, data entry clerk; Michelle Musgrave, fleet mnagement specialist; Julie Fort-man, executive administrative assistant; Heather Webb, senior bene-fits administrator; Tracey Kukovich, director of railcar management and storage; John Clark, UWCC president, Trinity Condon, HR coordinator; Joselyn Gates, assistant manager revenue accounting for collections and disputes and Ronda Ison, UWCC director.

Austin Bryan Loeb

Ray Pericola, division controller, dishes up some break-fast treats to raise money for the United Way.

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The newsletter for Watco Companies, LLC and Watco Transportation Services, LLCApril 2011, Volume 12, Issue 4

Customer Atlas Resin Proppants wins awardsby Tracie VanBecelaereManaging Editor

Congratulations to Watco Customer Atlas Resin Proppants who was recently honored with two prestigious awards in it’s home state of Wisconsin. Atlas manu-factures industrial silica sand and produces resin-coated sand products for the oil and gas industry.

Atlas is served by Watco’s Louisiana Southern Railroad (LAS) and ships in product to Minden, La., where it is then transloaded by the LAS Team to truck and delivered to a variety of locations. Resin-coated sand, which has a thin plastic coating, is used as a proppant in the hydraulic fracturing process of oil and natural gas wells. With the discovery of the Haynesville Shale formation, which underlies much of the Gulf Coast area, Atlas looks to have a very strong presence on the LAS

for some time.The company was chosen to receive one of 2010’s Wisconsin Manufacturer of the

Year awards after competing against 53 nominees. Atlas received a special “Team Commitment to the Community” for their long list of involvement in civic activi-ties to develop a positive and lasting impact in their community.

Atlas’s involvement in the community includes projects in Taylor, Wisc., such as painting structures in the park and the school gym, assisting with construction of a walking trail and bridge, replacing the ballpark fence and much more.

Atlas also supports their community fire, first responder and rescue departments, sponsors blood drives, and supports their local schools through career education as well as monetary donations to a number of worthy causes.

“We were absolutely delighted and proud,” said Ian Chapman, an Atlas executive vice president. “It’s an acknowledgement of the growth of the company and also all

the efforts of all our associates.“It would never have happened had it not been for

the full support and effort of the associates that work for us. We’re proud of the award, but we’re more proud of the associates that allowed it to happen.”

In addition, Atlas was named Business of the Year by the Black River Area Chamber of Commerce (BRACC).

“They have had tremendous growth in the past few years,” sand Chamber Executive Director Barb Brower. “It is wonderful for our economic growth (and) grow-ing jobs here in Jackson County. (Wisc.)”

The company is planning to break ground in March for a second Merrillan plant, which likely will be operational by October. The current $20 million and approximately 35,000-square-foot Merrillan plant is located on a 115-acre piece of land and the new facility likely would be similar in size and capacity. Atlas offi-cials also are considering a fourth operational expan-sion, which could begin by 2013.

Rick Webb, Watco CEO said, “On behalf of myself and the entire Watco Team, congratulations to our great Customer Atlas Resin Proppants for receiving these awards. It is indeed a great achievement to be recognized as Wisconsin’s Manufacturer of the Year and the BRACC Business of the Year and we are proud to serve them.”Railcars being loaded for Atlas Resin Proppants.