Thunder Rail a Made-In-The-Northeast Solution to Branch Line Closures

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Around Arborfield, everyone has high hopes for Thunder Rail, a homegrown railway initiative designed to alleviate the consequences of the closure of the local CN line five years ago.

“We had to raise between $285,000 to $300,000,” explains Thunder Rail General Manager Danny Edwards. “We didn’t really have to go out and canvas for shares; people overwhelmingly came to us. It was almost more than we could handle. Everybody is on board with it."

Thunder Rail was formed out of necessity brought on by the closure of the branch line. The RM of Arborfield and the towns of Arborfield and Zenon Park convinced CN to sell them the branch line instead of tearing it up. At that point, Carlton Trail Rail took it over and ran it for five year, but they decided that it wasn’t profitable. Carlton Trail left, and the locals were left with no choice but to form their own short line rail company.

Thunder Rail's shareholders are 50 local people or companies. The two major investors are Arborfield Dehy Limited and Arborfield Grain Producers Ltd., and there are 48 other smaller shareholders.

“The company is doing very well for its first year,” says Edwards. “I have only been in the short line business for six months myself, so it is difficult to compare it to anything. My background is fertilizer, chemicals, farm input sales. I have learned so much, and the learning curve is very steep."

Thunder Rail has 19.5 miles of their own line, and they use some of CN’s main line out to Murphy Siding, so in total, the short line covers approximately 23 miles. The company doesn't own any cars, but it does have its own locomotive and all the necessary track maintenance equipment such as snow ploughs, ballast regulator and tamper and tie inserters.

Thunder Rail's major clients are its two major shareholders, explains Edwards.

“In Arborfield, the dehy plant is the main industry. Without the railroad, it wouldn’t survive. We can’t afford to ship that much product out of here by truck. Without the rail line, the dehy industry is gone, and the town is in big trouble. We had to make the rail work.”

Now that the new company is going strong, there are a few things in the works.

“We want to see the dehy do well here and the town stay in good shape, and we also want to expand. It seems that CN would like to see someone else do the main car handling and assembly work for them, so all they have to do is pull up with the engines, hook up and go off to the coast. I foresee a lot more branch line closures, and, since we are already established in the northeast, there will be room for us to expand."

The company is projecting handling around 500 cars annually, but there are projects under way that might bring that number up to 700 or 800 cars.

"Things happen very quickly in the railroad business," says Edwards. "You never know, we might get a phone call tomorrow from people who tell us, 'Hey! We would like you to run this for us.'”

For more information, contact:

Danny Edwards
General Manager
Thunder Rail
(306) 769-8663
E-mail: thunderrail@sasktel.net