Blue Ridge Railcar Repair Back on Track

The Charlotte County Board of Supervisors kicked off the opening ceremonies last Wednesday at Patriot Rail’s newest facility in Keysville, Virginia – Blue Ridge Railcar Repair.

Patriot Rail Company, LLC is a leading operator of 500 miles of short line railroads and railcar repair facilities in 14 states, servicing a diversified customer base including the chemical, mineral, forest products, timber, paper, manufacturing, grain and foodstuffs industries.  Patriot partners with Class I railroads, transloaders who transfer shipments from one mode of transportation to another and railroad service providers to bring their clients customized freight transportation solutions, including freight haulage, railcar switching, repair, cleaning and storage, locomotive repair and switching, track and rail shop leasing and construction.

Located 16 miles from the Norfolk Southern Railway interchange via the Buckingham Branch Railroad, Blue Ridge Railcar Repair is situated on 21 acres of land featuring paint and blast capabilities and 11,000 feet of track capacity which allows for up to 130 “repair in progress” cars to be stored at any given time.  Blue Ridge is an AAR certified facility.  Their M-1003 quality assurance program ensures that their employees are trained and certified to provide the best quality service to their customers. It also ensures that the facility offers the equipment necessary to perform work professionally and proficiently.

Blue Ridge Railcar Repair is capable of handling equipment and repairs on any style of railcar.  They can provide repair, maintenance and restoration solutions while minimizing fleet downtime through flexible scheduling. They can also establish program repairs tailored specifically for clients’ fleet needs including locomotive services.  Blue Ridge’s capabilities include heavy repair, wreck repair, Rule 88 rebuilding, running repair, modifications, car conversions, maintenance and repair programs, scrap cars, lease returns, warranty returns, mobile repair services, in-house metal fabrication, AEI tag programming and carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminum steel. The types of railcars accepted by Blue Ridge are as follows:  open top hopper cars, covered hopper cars, box cars, gondolas, flat cars, refrigerated cars, tank cars and auto racks.

Dennis Clark, Shop Foreman and Dean Chartraw, Operations Manager will be managing the facilities along with Gary Griffiths, Chief Mechanical Officer.  Prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony and giving the Board of Supervisors a tour of the facilities last week, they spoke of the “tremendous response received thus far from over 120 qualified applicants via the Internet. Blue Ridge Railcar Repair wants to be the place where people come to make a career.  We want to be a part of the community and support the local businesses. We want to make you proud that we’re here.”