Not everybody can tear down a wrecked railcar and build it back new. Watco mechanics do it every day. Coal cars, hopper cars, lumber cars, flat cars … Nothing’s too tough for these team members. Working in pairs, usually inside a repair terminal or wreck barn, mechanics operate cranes, forklifts, scissor lifts, and other heavy equipment. They use air arc and other torch cutters, drills, grinders, and air reamers to cut railcars down or remove damaged parts; then they rivet and weld on new parts so the car is ready to ride the rails again.

Watco provides on-the-job training. Learned skills, including how to work safely, can be applied over and over, regardless of the car type. That doesn’t mean the job stays the same every day. New experiences – putting a draft arm in a car, for instance – come up often. People who like working on automobiles or using hand tools tend to excel as Watco mechanics.

Railcars run up and down millions of miles of rail. Every part is critical, because one repair done wrong could be catastrophic for a whole train. Watco mechanics do the job right so trains run safely.