Railcar Graffiti

DWalt

DWalt

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Certainly not a new observation but when I was returning home this morning from regions further west, I was pacing a train going in the same direction on tracks running alongside the highway. It must have been over 100 cars long. With only a few exceptions, each car was covered largely by painted graffiti, some very complex. If there are any railroaders here, just who are those graffiti artists and what is their purpose?
 
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Contrary to what some people assume, it's not a street gang thing. I was told by a Uniion Pacific Railroad Police sergeant that many of them are folks who have legit, mainstream careers that do it as a kind of conterculture "hobby." I specifically remember him mentioning having busted one very prolific "artist" who ran a crew of like-minded individuals who was a regional manager for a rental car company. He was looking at a bunch of felony counts and a boatload of restitution.
 
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DWalt said:
If there are any railroaders here, just who are those graffiti artists and what is their purpose?
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I'm not a railroader, but I assume when a cargo train is "parked," then these artists have plenty of time working on them cars w/o the risk of getting caught. I don't think they do it in the rail yard, or maybe they do, but sometimes the train is parked out in the wild and I think that's when they take advantage of it.
 
I live between the massive Queensgate Yard and the McCullough Yard.

I must admit that some of the artwork is spectacular.

I read that, like canvas artists' brush strokes, rail car artists around the county can identify the work of their contemporaries.
 
DWalt said:
Certainly not a new observation but when I was returning home this morning from regions further west, I was pacing a train going in the same direction on tracks running alongside the highway. It must have been over 100 cars long. With only a few exceptions, each car was covered largely by painted graffiti, some very complex. If there are any railroaders here, just who are those graffiti artists and what is their purpose?
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It doesn't matter who they are or why they do it. They should be caught and punished. It's simply defacing someone else's property.
 
It is defacing property, but I am wondering what the harm is.

Seems like those that are not adorned with the graffiti are just painted red or some other color. I can understand if it impacts operations or was offensive.

It would be interesting to hear what a railroad professional has to say.
 
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I think these graffiti "artists" just like to have the fame of having artists all over the country to see their work; and they see others'. I would prefer not to see the graffiti on bridges & buildings. I don't know how the railroads police this, but a stationary building or bridge is a lot easier to paint than a train, as far as planning.
The last thing I would put any art on would be a train. We used to jump them from one town to another when I was a kid in junior high. Then Willie slipped and lost half his foot under a wheel. Lost the other half because of infection. What lihpster said ^^^^^^^^^ too. And watch the speed. Most people get their broken feet/legs from jumping off at too fast a speed.
 
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Does make waiting at the crossing more entertaining. What I wonder about are the subway cars. The boxcars can be stationary for some time, but the subways seem to be in almost constant motion.
 
llowry61 said:
It is defacing property, but I am wondering what the harm is.

Seems like those that are not adorned with the graffiti are just painted red or some other color. I can understand if it impacts operations or was offensive.

It would be interesting to hear what a railroad professional has to say.
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Well, one form of harm is the "artwork" often covers ID numbers, safety placards, hazardous cargo identification labels and other required info on the cars. Though every now and then I have seen a case where the "artist" actually painted around the labels. Most do not. It shows a very real lack of respect both for other peoples property and the expenses of maintaining and operating the equipment. I've known a couple people who worked for the railroad and they have a very low opinion of the people who do this and the maintenance headaches they can cause.
 
Like many things in the world today I just don't understand the thought process of many people. A can of good spray paint costs $6-13 and railroad cars are big so it takes a lot of paint in different colors so one might spend 70-100 bucks to do a graffiti paint job. They risk being arrested and pay thousands in restitution to repaint a railroad car plus court costs and having a criminal record that makes it a little more difficult to get job. What are they trying to accomplish? Everyone in construction makes good money around here including painters, and specialty painters that can do glazes or faux finishes on walls make very good money. If you're talented enough to do murals or commercial artwork then the skies limit on your income. I'm just curious what the typical profile is of most graffiti people, are they homeless, mentally ill, anti-social, or just the typical type who lives next door???
 
Beemerguy53 said:
Graffiti on trains has become so prevalent that it's reached the level of a subculture. You can even buy model trains that have graffiti on them...

A History of Railroad Graffiti – And How to Add Graffiti to your Model Train Layout - ModelTrainStuff Blog
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I would never do that. I only put up the train set up when I put up a Christmas tree (not every year, it depends).

But my models are from the mid-60's to mid-70's era of railroading. Pennsy, Reading, Erie Lackawanna. My recollection as a kid is that the boxcars were graffiti free.

To each his own, but no thanks.
 
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If what I see is typical of the situation across the country, there is a mind-boggling huge number of rail cars which have fallen victim to the graffiti artists. Try as I can, there is no way I can come close to understanding their motivation.
 
I don't know who they are or why they do it but I have noticed that that most of them don't paint over the bar codes or other important numbers on the cars. Most of the art looks like the psychedelic stuff from the late 60's and early 70's.
 
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