Box Cars vs Other Traffic

[jwb]

I was intrigued by a subject that came up on another thread, the amount of box car traffic on contemporary US railroads. I realized I had a series of shots of every car on a BNSF manifest from 6 weeks or so ago, the MWCLBAR, a transfer from UP at West Colton to BNSF at Barstow, largely empties, but a cross section of what comes in and out of Los Angeles: 87 cars total, box cars 3, covered hoppers 48, tank cars 31, auto racks 4, centerbeam flats 1.

There will naturally be regional differences, and the economy probably explains how few centerbeams are in the train. But it should give an idea to anyone who thinks a generic warehouse with boxcars resembles anything like contemporary railroad traffic sources.