Grafitti on railroad cars

Perhaps this should go to the "non-Detroit" thread, but since it appears to be happening in Detroit also, allow my questions.

Railroad cars throughout America and Canada are absolutely overloaded with horrible grafitti markings. It makes our entire transportation routes in America look like a fourth-world country [[I'll not give it the satisfaction of third-world). Not only does it look totally stupid, but they cover up necessary car information for switching and dispatching.

Who in God's name are these morons; what is their malfunction, and what in the heck can be done about it?

I would submit that any person who pays or steals cans of spray paint to consume their fetishis has a severe mental problem.

Were I younger, I would gladly patrol railyards in search of these mentally handicapped people, and if found, give their bodies a completly new coloring appearance. Starting with the hair. And using their paint, of course.

Those who engage in any kind of grafitti are mental morons.

What happened to set you off on that topic? It seems out of character for you.

As a former[[occasional) Graffiti writer[[that's what we like to be called) I love it and want to see more of it. Even the shitty stuff. Don't get me wrong don't fuck up someones house, but billboards and railcars? Have at em

In fairness I've seen railroad car grafiti across Europe from France to Estonia. It's not just an American thing.

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Originally Posted by Jimaz

What happened to set you off on that topic? It seems out of character for you.

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I've been enjoying taking literal Amtrak trips across the country via YouTube. Very relaxing and I hope to take a trip myself in the next year. But there's rarely a RR car without markings from some self-important yahoo. They are nothing but ugly. As are the markings on the many buildings of Detroit. With rare exception, they are also very childish and show the educational development of the artist as perhaps fifth grade.

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

I've been enjoying taking literal Amtrak trips across the country via YouTube. Very relaxing and I hope to take a trip myself in the next year. But there's rarely a RR car without markings from some self-important yahoo. They are nothing but ugly....

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Okay, that's understandable. Sounds like fun. Take pics! Post 'em!

I Googled "graffiti" and I have to agree with you.

In the process, I ran across this:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/ba...val_banksy.jpg
'Graffiti Removal' By Banksy - Graffiti Artist

Then I realized that this very post, my own post, is graffiti too. :ocharacterscharacterscharacter

Hey Ray.... look at the carnage that was done to these two Detroit commercial buildings. They didn't even use spray paint. Someone named Ouizi just did a roll and run paint job... oh the horror!! :rolleyes:

Well, Ray, I too have more days behind me than I do in front of me. So a few years ago I found in a basement a few O-gauge Lionel cars that were pretty beat up. The trucks were pretty solid, so I cleaned them and they roll smoothly, but the bodies were a little too close to an old oil burning furnace and were really discolored. So I grafittid them. They sit on my track, as if in Milwaukee Junction on a hot summer day. I thought it was a good use of some old beat up model train cars.

I wonder about the extent to which railcar graffiti is a manifestation of young males marking their territory to make their presence known. Ditto playing loud music and 50's type revving of engines.

How Graffiti became Gentrified

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Originally Posted by Gistok

Hey Ray.... look at the carnage that was done to these two Detroit commercial buildings. They didn't even use spray paint. Someone named Ouizi just did a roll and run paint job... oh the horror!! :rolleyes:

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I guess my question to you would be what does a professionally painted building have to do with crap like this?

Attachment 38746

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Originally Posted by Jimaz

Okay, that's understandable. Sounds like fun. Take pics! Post 'em!

I Googled "graffiti" and I have to agree with you.

In the process, I ran across this:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/ba...val_banksy.jpg
'Graffiti Removal' By Banksy - Graffiti Artist

Then I realized that this very post, my own post, is graffiti too. :ocharacterscharacterscharacter

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That puts you and banksy in the same category as cave dwellers.

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Originally Posted by Seven&wyo

As a former[[occasional) Graffiti writer[[that's what we like to be called) I love it and want to see more of it. Even the shitty stuff. Don't get me wrong don't fuck up someones house, but billboards and railcars? Have at em

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Why doesn't it surprise me you would engage in criminal activity?

Sounds like a question you should be asking yourself

I'm not the one that publicly admitted to trespassing and destroying public and private property.

If I were Admin here, I'd forward your post to authorities along with your IP address[[es).

I'll just pull up a chair.
Attachment 38747

I will too. Really shakin in my boots.

I'm loving the murals abounding. Very nice. But the crap graphitti needs to go.

It only makes the city look dismal, defaces property, and it is illegal.

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

I guess my question to you would be what does a professionally painted building have to do with crap like this?

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Originally Posted by DetroitSoldier

In fairness I've seen railroad car grafiti across Europe from France to Estonia. It's not just an American thing.

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I’ll echo this sentiment. Eastern Europe rail line graffiti is commonplace on sound barriers, bridge overpasses and trains.

You have a point, there is no graffiti on this train but I would rather have some graffiti making it look 4th world than this Attachment 38748

I don't mind it on rail cars. I know its someone's property too but seems a little more harmless. I have seen model trains with simulated graffiti and thought that was a cool thing to do.

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Originally Posted by Seven&wyo

Sounds like a question you should be asking yourself

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Like you would be asking yourself if you would have a problem with others graffiting your personal property?

The UK spends 3.5 million per year removing graffiti from thier transit lines,which help push a 40% increase in operating cost,which also in turn removes a percentage of riders that can no longer afford to use the service.

All because of a few people and thier paint cans.

Good, stop cleaning them 🙂 make em look better

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

I guess my question to you would be what does a professionally painted building have to do with crap like this?

Attachment 38746

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I dunno - based on the condition of the rail car sans grafitti, it doesn't look like the owner gives a damn about the exterior appearance anyway. Heck, the artistry gives the rusted shell a little je ne sais quoi.

I think the answer is simple. If you don't own it, don't alter it. Seems crazy enough to work.

^^^ Yes! So simple to have been MADE complex! Duh.

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Originally Posted by DetroitSoldier

In fairness I've seen railroad car grafiti across Europe from France to Estonia. It's not just an American thing.

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I don't know why graffiti is being characterized as a Third World phenomenon. You probably won't find nearly as much of it in the "Third World" as in the "First World."

To me, there’s a big difference between a mural and graffiti. As far as I’m concerned graffiti is vandalism pure and simple, I don’t see the value in it that others do. Very little difference in my mind between tagging something and throwing a rock through a window.

Any kind of urban art should show a little bit of talent and humor. I'd rather walk away from these with a smile rather then a look of disgust.

Attachment 38753 Attachment 38754

I don't see as near as many railroad cars as I did living in the city. But driving through a town that has the siding tracks for parking them boxcars, I too was struck by all the Graffitti and it was on every single car. It caught my eye and left an impression, not good, not bad but different from days gone by. Ultimately it left me indifferent, mainly because I cant see it from my front porch.

Thing is, not all railroad graffitti is unsightly, some of it is quite creative and can liven up the dull paint schemes of today's rail cars. Here's a couple examples from a recent railfan trip to Ohio: Attachment 38757Attachment 38758 Of course, it's still vandalism.

Yes, I agree. I enjoy seeing quality graffitti pass by on trains. Some of it is quite good. Of course, others are terrible.

Ray, I would disagree with you that it makes us look like a 4th world country. I always remarked that graffitti wasn't popular in Detroit because we were too poor. Graffitti is more like 2nd world level. You have enough income to waste it on train car you'll never see again. To me, I'd rather you go vigilante on litterbugs [[or graffitti on new, operating buildings). They are the real pariahs.
I'm guessing you're older. This is also a generational thing and graffitti is used to even promote development now, aka the Skip downtown. It really fascinating actually how graffitti has been legitimized.

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Originally Posted by EstateSale

Thing is, not all railroad graffitti is unsightly, some of it is quite creative and can liven up the dull paint schemes of today's rail cars. Here's a couple examples from a recent railfan trip to Ohio: Attachment 38757Attachment 38758 Of course, it's still vandalism.

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I guess you could say, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

https://uploads7.wikiart.org/images/.../mona-lisa.jpg


edit...

The Picasso has come up missing,

vandalism of another sort?

Copy right issues?
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/asse...uper-tease.jpg

Ha ha, indeed!
[[Yet still a crime)

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Originally Posted by Dan Wesson

I guess you could say, Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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More so a matter of taste. In most ways, standards of beauty are universally agreed upon.

Maybe freight cars would be a bit more colorful, or the owners [[often private shippers) would at least put their logos on them, if they weren't immediately trashed by graffiti.

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Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

Well, Ray, I too have more days behind me than I do in front of me. So a few years ago I found in a basement a few O-gauge Lionel cars that were pretty beat up. The trucks were pretty solid, so I cleaned them and they roll smoothly, but the bodies were a little too close to an old oil burning furnace and were really discolored. So I grafittid them. They sit on my track, as if in Milwaukee Junction on a hot summer day. I thought it was a good use of some old beat up model train cars.

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Now, THAT'S funny! Thanks for the chuckle!

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

Now, THAT'S funny! Thanks for the chuckle!

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Anytime. You're still considerably older than me tho!! Love your old Detroit stories. I got those from my grandfather who grew up on St. Jean near Jefferson in the late 19-teens and the 20s. He used to pick up the gate receipts from Navin Field and take them to the Guardian Bank downtown...in a regular old sedan. Wound up later in Iowa playing baseball in the cornfields. Then rode the rails. Wound up in Tuscon....sheriff no-less. Went AWOL in WWII chasing two Australian ladies...back to Australia...for 4 months...UNDETECTED. Finally discharged from a base in Wisconsin, took the loot in cash, got blasted, wound up in Chicago, passed out, picked up by Chicago's finest. They let him sleep it off overnight, still with the loot, in uniform. Threw him on the first train to Detroit......

Fascinating, almost unbelievable stories from that guy.......

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

I guess my question to you would be what does a professionally painted building have to do with crap like this?

Attachment 38746

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Gee Sparky.... I guess the nuance of a smiley face is getting lost on you.

As for that train car... can't really say which is nastier... the unmaintained rusty box car, or someone painting a part of it.

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Originally Posted by Gistok

Gee Sparky.... I guess the nuance of a smiley face is getting lost on you.

As for that train car... can't really say which is nastier... the unmaintained rusty box car, or someone painting a part of it.

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Gee, Beaver, you stick so many smiley faces on your posts, it's difficult figuring out where your coming from. I wouldn't consider that POS name tagging, someone painting the car.

What if, just sayin, what if that railroad car doesn't get repainted because of the graphitti.

Seems that all the other mechanicals are refurbished till they can't.

You guys are behind the times,those are not rusty railroad cars.

They are railroad cars with patina which increases thier value and the graffiti decreases the value when it is cleaned off,because the natural patina is also removed.

The owners spent many years to obtain that natural look and some smuck with a paint can ruins it in minutes.

In the case of Calvin and Hobs,how come nobody is up in arms about copy right infringement,post a photo that somebody else took and somebody wants to get paid.

To rephrase what I said earlier, what's the point of keeping freight cars clean when they get immediately trashed by graffiti? On most any freight train you can see freshly rehabbed or new cars with garbage newly scrawled on them.

All this talk about graffiti. Sent me down the rabbit hole...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti for a historic angle.

Then there is how to...

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...w=1242&bih=603

The use of computers and layers are hitech and modern, looks like fun.
Now I see how Banksy can pull it off.
There is some good artistic images.

The history angle is cool. Ancient graffiti concerning unrequited love comes through loud and clear today. Yet I saw no mention of poetic public convenience scribes.

"Here I sit all broken hearted,
came to **** and only farted."

Now that could be considered a classic variation. Yet not quite PC for the wiki.

Attachment 38782