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GRAND TRUNK HERITAGE By Philip R. Hastings


Rail’s Roaring New Energy Business


HERE ARE THE ISSUES in a nutshell: The rail industry is playing yet another piv- otal role in America’s quest for energy inde- pendence. Not that this new breakthrough technolo- gy will, all by itself, release us from our trade policy and national security chains of reliance on other nations for our energy needs. But it is bound to implement a crucial step in that direction. With nuclear weapon- ry development the focus of nations whose leaders (including terrorists) hate us, why would America not welcome efforts ulti- mately to make us an exporter — not an im- porter — of badly needed energy sources?


Up Close and Personal


From our own day-to-day perspectives, it is also hoped this new step forward will enable Americans to pay at the gas pump without being driven to food stamps or the tin cup. For the uninitiated, some definitions: Tight oil — Oil that is extracted from dense rocks. Shale gale — Natural gas extracted through the same technology combo from shale rock, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling.


The Story Is . . .


These new energy sources are already filling at least some of the gap created by the years- long “war on coal” in the U.S. (see this col- umn, December 2010) and the decline of ap- proval for new oil drilling permits. All of this bodes well for the future of the rail industry. It is much too early to tell whether the new energy source will (ideally) add to or (ultimately) replace, the coal industry, freight rail’s largest customer. That would depend on how quickly the EPA shuts down coal-fired power plants. (Again, some per- spective, please: Coal still accounts for more than twice as large a segment of rail com- modity carloads in North America as any other product. We will still need coal for many basic energy needs, and freight rail will continue to serve that necessity for the indefinite future.)


With the finest in steam power and ded- icated employees, the Grand Trunk Railway served as Canadian Na- tional’s gateway into northern New England for decades. Featuring the black & white work of Phil Hastings and others, this book shows magnificent Northerns, Pacifics and more in the last years of steam on the railroad (C00066) $11.95 + s&h


To Order Call: 1-888-526-5365 or on-line at www.carstensbookstore.com


Carstens Publications, Inc. 16 MAY 2012 • RAILFAN.COM


We have written before of the Bakken Formation oil operations in North Dakota and the Marcellus shale natural gas fields in the eastern U.S. What follows is a more de- tailed rail-oriented account:


Natural Gas and Norfolk Southern Exploration for natural gas is booming in the Marcellus Shale. Norfolk Southern Met- als and Construction Vice President Jim Schaff heads his employer’s program to move carloads of sand, cement, pipe, and other materials needed for drilling deep un- derground in the geological formation that makes its way from Ohio to West Virginia right through Pennsylvania and into south- ern New York state. Marcellus Shale is found elsewhere, including a region stretch- ing from New York to Tennessee. Water, sand, and chemicals are pumped through the shale to reach the natural gas reserves whose existence was actually well-


known for years. It was only in recent times that technological advancements were dis- covered to accomplish the task of extracting it. Just to give you one indication of the growth in this region: NS reports 6000 car- loads in 2009; 24,000 carloads in 2010; 40,000 carloads in 2011. An exhaustive


study that Progressive


Railroading has crafted on the “fracking” phenomenon, reports that 85 per cent of the Marcellus Shale carload volume that NS moves is “frac sand, with each drilled well re- quiring about 20 to 30 carloads of the mater- ial. More than three million tons are going to Marcellus Shale drilling sites in the Midwest — mainly to Illinois and Wisconsin.” Don Seale, Norfolk-Southern Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer, sums up the Marcellus Shale business for the railroad as having been “ramped up significantly.” He adds that “our plans call for a significant in- crease over and above for 2012, so that area is very positive and encouraging.”


And the Former “Branch Lines?” Many short line railroads are partnering with Class I operations on this huge project. In Pennsylvania alone, 18 of the smaller car- riers are involved. These include Lehigh Railway; Lycoming Valley; Wellsboro & Corning; Reading, Blue Mountain & North- ern; Owego & Harford; Southwest Pennsyl- vania; and the Buffalo & Pittsburgh. (BTW — Based on personal experience, if you’re looking for a good passenger trip, you might visit the website of Andy Muller’s Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern.)


CSX, Too


Of course, any time a rail-involved industry is the hot thing east of the Mississippi Riv- er, you can figure America’s other eastern Class I line is also cashing in on the action. CSX forecasts that whatever it loses in coal shipments this year just may be cushioned by the delivery of fracking sand used for nat- ural gas drilling. The east’s largest railroad made a 67 per cent leap in 2011 in total car- loads,


to 12,000. A confident CSX CEO Michael Ward defines Marcellus Shale as “a great growth opportunity for us.” This is no fly-by-night happening. Scien- tists have conservatively estimated Marcel- lus deposits — the second largest natural gas formation in the world — will provide the basis for 30 years of extraction. The overall natural gas potential is estimated in some quarters as enough to last many years beyond that.


Shale Oil and BNSF


There’s an old saying that downstream-flow- ing water, if blocked in one waterway, will find another ditch or stream in which to con- tinue its journey. That is happening in the North Dakota oil boom thanks to a fracking process that is producing “tight oil,” whose technology might be termed a cousin to the “shale gale” production of natural gas dis- cussed above. As fewer oil drilling leases are approved by Washington, the energy indus-


2012 RAILROAD TOURS


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