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Union Pacific Corp. ( UNP ), the largest U.S. railroad by track network, saw its shares fall about 1 percent from Friday, when they set a new record of $126.91, as the carrier shifts its business to natural gas producers from coal shipments, which are dropping.

Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific, which fell $1.15 to $123.39 on Monday, has taken advantage of the boom in natural gas by shipping materials for companies that use hydraulic fracturing to extract gas, which has offset declines in the coal business. The company's fracking shipments increased 12 percent in the second quarter compared to the prior year, according to Bloomberg . Union Pacific, which previously counted Warren E. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK/A)  as a major shareholder, estimated that shale shipments will grow to 400,000 carloads in 2012, according to a July earnings call, or around twice the amount shipped in the northern U.S. in 2011, said Bloomberg.

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