Hi all,

  Bob's post with the UoK links prompts me to ask a general question about
freight car distribution.  This is not a criticism it is a request for enlightment.

  I have noticed that many of the photo links of earlier time frames - let's say
pre-WWII - that are taken at locations East of the Mississippi have
relatively few cars in them from West Coast roads.  (I am not referring to
pics devoted to a single car/road but rather to pics of trains/yards with a
variety of cars in them.)  And then, after WW-II the West Coast roads
start to show up in ever larger numbers as time passes.

  So my question is - was there a significant change in what products were
available, and where they were produced and where they were consumed
that caused this shift?
  If it wasn't the above ... what was the change?
  At least one answer is that most of the pics posted of East Coast trains
and yards are being posted (or linked) by members of this list who have
less interest in the West Coast.  I don't think that's true ... but it might be a
factor.  For example, the classic/oft referenced freight car distribution
study was done using freight trains in Wyoming ... might/wouldn't that
study have changed if the location was "some where on the East Coast"?

                      - Jim