LF,

I ride a train to work everyday because my commute is pretty long (1.5 hours one way). Our commuter train line shares the rails with Amtrak and freight traffic. One of the things I noticed early on was that the large shipments of steel seemed to stop almost overnight. Prior to the slowdown, it was not unusual to see a couple of train loads just loaded with steel. I-Beam, H-beams, sheets of steel from my judgement of 3/8" thick to what I judge to be as thick as 2". Not 4' x 8' sheets, these were as wide as the railcar and 1/3 to 1/2 it's length, piled 2 - 4 feet high on average. Now I see them only about once every 3 - 4 months and maybe a maximum of 6 cars loaded, mostly with sheets, very few I or H beams. The rest of the train is made up of other freight, where previously it was the full train.

Paul