Brown Industries Announces New Facility, Car Mover

Brown Industries' new car mover.

Brown Industries, LLC, a subsidiary of B12 Transportation Group, recently announced a pair of news items: It is expanding its manufacturing capacity by adding a new facility, and the details of its newest car rail vehicle, which is designed to pull multiple loaded trains while remaining a fully functional grapple truck.

With three business units occupying the existing facility in Lawrence, Kan., the new location—in Minneapolis, Kan., 20 miles north of Salina, Kan.—aims to allow the company to grow job opportunities and increase production to keep up with the demand of the expanding divisions.

This year, Brown Industries plans to move half of the rail division to Minneapolis. Over the course of time, the van body division will expand into the existing space in Lawrence while the new facility increases rail capacity.

“In order to keep up with high demand, and to expedite our manufacturing process on large orders, we needed more space for our rail and van body business units,” said John Resnik, CEO of B12 Transportation Group. “The city of Minneapolis offered the building as a part of an economic development package, and we are pleased to expand our operations capabilities while also supporting the local community through job growth.” 

The patent-pending truck aims to allow more flexibility while working out in the field.

This hybrid car mover generates more than 20,000 pounds of tractive effort and includes Continental rail gear, the Brown Rail hydrostatic remote drive system, hydraulic tool circuit, Brown Rail custom material handling body, the Moley Magnetics ESB32 magnet system, the 2018 Western Star 4900SB, and the Brown Rail Train Knuckle and Train Air.

Brown Industries, LLC is a manufacturer of van bodies, rail equipment and specialty vehicles with manufacturing locations in Lawrence, Kan., and Henderson, Colo. Brown Industries has been serving customers throughout North America for more than 70 years.

“The car mover is one of the most versatile rail trucks in Brown’s rail vehicle lineup, allowing clients to move rail cars in one day and conduct track maintenance the next day,” said Stuart Seeger, Rail Director for Brown Industries. “Essentially, clients can do more work with less vehicles.”

“Brown Industries is a team that takes pride in creating the most durable, efficient, hard-working trucks available from design, through production to final finishing,” said Mark Radosevich, CFO.