Tim Gilbert wrote:

This assumes that few boxcars were in assigned service - in the Fall of
1947 when there was a severe boxcar shortage, there is evidence that
even automobile cars equipped with loading devices were reloaded with
Lumber on the west coast. With lesser boxcar shortages, those automobile
cars would have been returned to Detroit empty.

Let's not forget that auto assembly was significantly decentralized at that time, and the auto cars with loaders were carrying finished automobiles away from MANY plants all over the U.S., not just from Detroit, though of course a large percentage of cars WERE built in Detroit.

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