Working rail roads and their tracks.

[Hay Dude]

No, they said it's because trains are longer and computerized control of routing is more efficient.

I bet handing the mantle to China for manufacturing and mining is a part of it, too. I mean come on, we don’t make squat for heavy industries here anymore….

 

[MossRoad]

The reduction in coal transportation by rail in the U.S. can almost singlehandedly be placed on the rise in the shift from U.S. coal to U.S. natural gas for power generation. That cannot be put on the Chinese. It's 100% U.S. driven.

 

[dodge man]

We took the cog up Pikes Peak years ago. My son was about 2 and we all had a little bit of altitude sickness, my son was the worse, I thought he was going to throw up on the people sitting across from us shoes, they really packed us in there. While we were at the top I believe we saw every kind of weather in 20 minutes, fog, sun, rain, snow, sleet and some freezing rain. The view was pretty poor because of fog.

Looks like a fun trip Hay Dude, we are renting a house in Moab for a month in October and November.

 

[MossRoad]

I found an interesting site that predicts future economy by the number and type of rail cars in service and on order to be built. They're predicting steady growth through 2045. So maybe we'll have more trains to watch in our future.

 

[Hay Dude]

The reduction in coal transportation by rail in the U.S. can almost singlehandedly be placed on the rise in the shift from U.S. coal to U.S. natural gas for power generation. That cannot be put on the Chinese. It's 100% U.S. driven.

View attachment 708413

we lose any rail because of drop in Manufacturing? Got a chart for that?

 

[MossRoad]

we lose any rail because of drop in Manufacturing? Got a chart for that?

Haven't looked. Are you talking about the rail lines or the rail tonnage shipped?

 

[Hay Dude]

The reduction in coal transportation by rail in the U.S. can almost singlehandedly be placed on the rise in the shift from U.S. coal to U.S. natural gas for power generation. That cannot be put on the Chinese. It's 100% U.S. driven.

View attachment 708413

That’s pure speculation on your part.

The only thing that chart shows is an extreme drop in coal tonnage shipped. It does NOT show that it was replaced by NG. Of course there was an increase in NG because of fracking, which is also on the ropes, but you can’t claim the reduction was singlehandedly replaced by NG.
Anyone/everyone knows the precipitous drop in US manufacturing which was replaced by Chinese manufacturing in the last 20 years results in less energy hauled by rail, truck and pipeline in the US.

Even if it WAS replaced by NG hauled by rail, what if that NG was being exported to countries like China for manufacturing? Then it proves my point even more. China has taken nearly all our industrial base away. That’s a huge concern.

 

[MossRoad]

That’s pure speculation on your part.

The only thing that chart shows is an extreme drop in coal tonnage shipped. It does NOT show that it was replaced by NG. Of course there was an increase in NG because of fracking, which is also on the ropes, but you can’t claim the reduction was singlehandedly replaced by NG.
Anyone/everyone knows the precipitous drop in US manufacturing which was replaced by Chinese manufacturing in the last 20 years results in less energy hauled by rail, truck and pipeline in the US.

Even if it WAS replaced by NG hauled by rail, what if that NG was being exported to countries like China for manufacturing? Then it proves my point even more. China has taken nearly all our industrial base away. That’s a huge concern.

90% of coal usage in the U.S. goes to electrical power generation. Only 10% goes to manufacturing. Both sectors are down about 42% in coal usage. So a reduction in manufacturing usage of coal only accounts for about 5.8% of the drop in coal usage. The rest of the drop goes to electrical generation's shift to natural gas and renewables.

And, this discussion is taking all the fun out of this thread, so that's all I've got to say about that (my apologies to Forrest Gump).

 

[Hay Dude]

Bah, your original speculation doesnt hold up, but yeah, back to railroads and their tracks.

 

[5030]

Candidly speaking, I don't give a hoot. Rounds are at 50 per and I'm happy.