News

Oil tankers moving out of city soon

Railroad tankers west of Seventh Avenue will be gone soon, City Manager John Connet told the Hendersonville City Council.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 5, 2016

The railroad tankers that moved last month from Flat Rock to Hendersonville will be gone entirely in the weeks ahead, City Manager John Connet told the Hendersonville City Council on Thursday.

Connet responded after Hyman Heights resident Michael Balin expressed concern about the black tankers, calling them an eyesore.
“I had a conversation with Watco,” the rail line owner, Connet said in response. “They are the same rail cars that were in Flat Rock. They moved them because the owners of the tankers is in the process of putting them back in service.”
Watco’s Asheville-based marketing manager told Connet that the railroad company is moving eight to 10 out at a time. “They couldn’t give me an exact time when they would all be gone,” he said. “Unfortunately, it is their rail line and we’re limited in what we can do.”
The Hendersonville Lightning reported last month on neighbor’s concerns in Flat Rock and East Flat Rock. Watco, a Kansas-based shortline operator that does business here as Blue Ridge Railroad, responded to those concerns and moved the cars to the tracks west of Seventh Avenue. The owners of the tankers paid Blue Ridge to store the cars on the Hendersonville line until they were needed again. A glut of oil and slowdown in fracking and other domestic production idled thousands of tankers nationwide.