A quick look at freight traffic via railroads indicates no surprising changes in our economic landscape. However, the numbers do reaffirm some interesting trends. Total rail freight volume for the fourth week of January 2008 was estimated at 32.4 billion ton-miles, a decrease of 1.2% from one year ago. Some of the decline is attributed to severe weather conditions early in the month, especially in the eastern states.

What bears special concern in the Association of American Railroads rail freight traffic report are the few categories of freight that are showing significant reductions in rail freight loading volume when compared to 2007. Coal coke, which is used mainly as an industrial fuel showed a major decline in loading volume of 36.8%. This could be due in part to a shifting away from hydrocarbon fuels. Lumber and wood products loadings declined by a significant 22.35%, which does not bode well for the construction and furnishing trades. Primary forest product loadings dropped by 19.9% which further indicates a slow start to the coming building season.

In what truly is an example of the law of unintended consequences, the subprime mortgage mess may actually benefit RV and manufactured home maker Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: FLE), CEO Elden Smith suggested. The reasoning is that as mortgages for those with more modest creditworthiness become more difficult to obtain, consumers will take a look at manufactured housing which can often be financed through the manufacturer. Manufactured housing costs less and carries a lower monthly payment.

Fleetwood could use some good news. The company released 1QFY 2008 numbers last week that were not encouraging. Revenues were down 4%, not surprising since gas prices were up by a whole lot more and most of Fleetwood's business centers around its RV Group. The company generated $6 million in income for the quarter, which would be good news if $5.3 million of this money had not come from selling an unused production facility. In actual fact, losses at the company widened during the quarter from $400,000 net loss in 1Q 2007 to a net loss of $2.3 million in 1Q 2008. For the past several quarters, Fleetwood has been selling off company assets to help offset operating losses.

Fleetwood Enterprises is trying to manufacture smaller, more fuel-efficient RV models, which have generated some interest among RV dealers. But the dealers are reluctant to stock up any inventory while demand for RVs is still so soft. Folding trailer sales were down 10% by volume. This news is in keeping with survey results that show fewer Americans are taking camping trips to national parks and other federally managed outdoor locations. Also, there are fewer trailer parks in the prime retirement states of Arizona, Florida and California, as municipalities turn the land over to developers to generate more tax revenue. Fleetwood CEO Elden Smith did not offer any guidance for FY 2008 figures, but don't look for Fleetwood's problems to be solved anytime in the immediate future. The stock closed at $8.91, down $0.49 on Friday.