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Last year, Farmrail System Inc. set a record for traffic, which climbed 38 percent from 2011's level.

The record reflects rapidly growing volumes of crude oil in the Anadarko Basin, Farmrail System officials said in a news item posted on the company's website. Oilfield-related carloads accounted for 66 percent of freight business, which as recently as 2000 was 60 percent wheat-dependent, they said.

The transformation to oil-driven traffic should lead to more regularly scheduled operations and less extreme seasonality during the mid-year grain harvest, Farmrail System officials said.

Burgeoning crude oil production in western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle continues to generate traffic for subsidiary Farmrail Corp. in Sayre, Okla. The railroad serves as a lessee-operator for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, managing an 82-mile east-west line between Weatherford and Erick, and an additional 89 miles of track between Westhom and Elmer.