In an antiquated Green Tree rail yard, dozens of railcars move in from the Midwest, waiting to load thousands of tons of sand onto trucks to be transported to Marcellus Shale sites in bordering counties.

Shiny new rigs line up to be weighed at Wheeling & Lake Erie's 110-year-old Rook Rail Yard between old, dilapidated buildings that once served as engine repair and machine shops for Pittsburgh & Lake Erie's railroad.

Once they're loaded, the trucks make a series of right-hand turns out of the Mansfield Avenue yard and onto the parkway to deliver the sand to Marcellus Shale well sites in Washington, Fayette and Greene counties.

"This used to be an old, empty rail yard. Now it's a distribution facility for a modern-day gold rush," said Dave Montz, borough manager of Green Tree.

Sand leaving the Rook yard is used at shale sites to help keep gas wells open once they have been fractured from drilling for what has been described by politicians as southwestern Pennsylvania's golden opportunity for economic vitality.

Marcellus Shale is said to be the biggest natural gas field in the United States, spanning nearly 61 million underground acres across Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. Southwestern Pennsylvania is called the "fairway" of the shale by industry experts and its economic impact reaches beyond the energy in demand.

"We're sitting on gold here," said U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair.

Mr. Murphy toured the rail yard recently with others, including state Rep. Matt Smith, D-Mt. Lebanon; liaisons from the offices of state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato; Green Tree officials; and company executives who operate the rail yard.

Mr. Montz organized the meeting in hopes of securing public funds to address any issues that arise from new traffic in that part of town and to help expand the local workforce.

The natural gas boom is expected to create 200,000 jobs in the region during the next 10 years, according to a Penn State study and reports from Consol Energy.

It has created 40 jobs within the past two years at the around-the-clock site in Green Tree, and another 100 are expected to be created there within six months, according to Patrick Cozzens, president of Modern Transportation. The 23-year-old, Sewickley-based company works out of the Rook terminal and hauls industrial materials to Fortune 500 companies across the country.

"We are currently looking for 20 more [truck] drivers," Mr. Cozzens said.

Modern Transportation drivers earn $50,000 to $100,000 a year, depending on how much they want to work, he said. Paid vacations and healthcare coverage are included. Candidates should have a commercial driver's license Class A, two years' experience driving a tractor-trailer and a clean motor vehicle record. Interested candidates can find more information on the company website at www.moderntrans.com.

Arrow Materials Services, which operates the facility and moves the sand from railcars into trucks, employs 16 people at Rook, each earning $45,000 to $50,000 per year.

The company could hire more employees in Green Tree if the old buildings are cleared and the yard is cleaned, according to Tim Chutz, president of Sewickley-based Arrow Materials Services, a spinoff of Modern Transportation.

Cleaning up the yard not only would create more room to expand operations but also could attract new customers, Mr. Chutz said.

"Potential customers like to see a clean piece of real estate that's ready to grow. It's an easier sell. There's always a need for a distribution facility," Mr. Chutz said.

None of the business managers or borough officials could offer a dollar amount on what it would cost to move the weigh station, pave the yard and raze the old buildings. They just agreed it would be a substantial amount and is a necessary step to improve and grow operations at the rail yard.

Mr. Smith said the companies "seem right on par" to take advantage of growth promised by the Marcellus Shale.

"They're growing and creating jobs in an industry that is positioned to be an economic development engine for the region," he said.

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