Fort Scott City Manager Brad Matkin told city commissioners on Tuesday, July 21, that he has finally found someone at the railroad willing to talk about running a rail spur into the city’s industrial park — and that the railroad is willing to bring one in.
Nothing has been agreed to, and nobody has voted on anything. But the report was the most concrete public word yet on infrastructure that would shape what kind of employers Fort Scott can try to attract.
“I finally found somebody from the railroad that wants to talk, and it happens to be an economic development person for the railroad,” Matkin said. After a meeting the previous Friday, he said, “they are willing to bring a spur up right now up to the south of Timken, actually south of Valu.”
“It sounds very possible that we will be getting a railroad spur out to Industrial Park,” he said. “And manufacturing background can tell you how big that is.” He called it “huge for economic development in the future, because not that many industries have spurs going behind them.”
Matkin said they were meeting again that Friday and would “continue meeting until we get this thing ironed out.” He said the railroad “has been listening. They’ve been cooperative. They want the business, of course.”
The railroad wants to tie the spur into a Columbus, Kansas, line rather than a Springfield, Missouri, line, Matkin said, adding that he could not explain the reasoning. Public rail maps show two BNSF lines meeting just south of the industrial park — one running southeast toward Springfield, the other southwest through Columbus.
Matkin’s own ask is that the track not stop short. Running it behind the Timken building, he said, would let more than one company use it: that “would give a runway through their parking lot that you could bring from other companies to that spur.”
That is the case for rail access. A spur ties a plant to the main line, and for a manufacturer that ships heavy or bulk freight, having or sharing one is often what decides whether a site gets a serious look. The company buying the Timken building has raised it with him directly, Matkin said: “They’ve been talking to me about the railroad spur. That’s very important to them.”
The Timken building is why the timing matters. Timken announced in November 2023 that it would wind down its belts plant at 4505 Campbell Road and close it in 2025; about 155 people worked there. On the city’s radio show on July 16, Matkin said “the Timken building is sold. The contract is signed and everything,” with the buyer’s name and line of business expected “later in the month or first of August,” pending paperwork and financing. He has not named the buyer.
Next door, Diversey, the cleaning-products company that said in May it would put a blending plant and warehouse in the former Valu Merchandisers building, is already at work on its building, Matkin said, coordinating with the city’s fire department and engineer on code. Both buildings had been sitting empty. “These are big companies that are coming in,” he said.
A second rail item came up the same night on a different project: Commissioner Matthew Wells asked about the study the city is running with Fontana and Spring Hill through the firm Wilson & Company. That one is about crossings rather than spurs. Fort Scott, Spring Hill and Fontana share a $2.15 million BNSF planning grant, of which $800,000 covers the Fort Scott end of the work; the city put up $40,000 to match it. The study is meant to determine whether Fort Scott needs an overpass, Jayhawk Road is the hoped-for location, and which existing crossing BNSF would want closed in exchange. Matkin said it is underway, with the city’s business development director, Mary Wyatt, leading it.
Matkin’s report on the spur begins about 1:43:40 into the city’s video of the July 21 meeting.