Norwood's book discusses this topic

John Norwood, in his book Rio Grande Narrow Gauge, devotes several pages to the gas/oil boom. He retired as a DRGW assistant vice-president for operations and was the railroads key witness at the ICC abandonment hearings in 1967.

Norwood wrote that on Sept 12, 1951, the DRGW was shocked when the Southern Union Gas company in Farmington notified the railroad that it was shipping 235 standard gauge loads of pipe west to Farmington. The railroad had only 75 open top narrow gauge cars available at the time. It was further informed the this order was only the start. Track gangs were beefed up to upgrade the track, all furloughed employees were called up, and standard gauge box cars and flats were converted to open end flats and placed on ng trucks. In June of 1956, the railroad hauled 550 standard gauge loads of pipe.

Norwood discussed several analyses during the boom that were done to derive net revenue figures but he inexplicitly stops short providing any bottom line. However, he wrote that one study showed that "on a standard carload basis, it was costing $127 for a 250 mile narrow gauge haul compared to a cost per car of $65 to haul the standard gauge load from Ogden, UT to Alamosa, 800 miles." From these figures, it would be difficult to imagine that the gas/oil boom was profitable for the DRGW.

Throughout the book, Norwood also writes about the Navajo. The boom changed their culture from "an essentially pastoral life of herdsman" to one that was relatively enriched from royalties paid them from the gas fields. Many Navajo worked in that industry. Perhaps equally interesting is Norwood's detailed description of the ICC hearings, especially the protestants that argued against abandonment. Great book, though his chapters are somewhat oddly organized.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2021 11:46AM by Brian Shoup.