Grafitti on railroad cars

[iheartthed]

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

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."

[softailrider]

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.

[Bigb23]

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.

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[Dan Wesson]

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.

[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: Of course, it's still vandalism.

[DeLemur]

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.

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: Of course, it's still vandalism.

[Dan Wesson]

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




edit...

The Picasso has come up missing,

vandalism of another sort?

Copy right issues?

[DeLemur]

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

[hybridy]

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

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

[Burnsie]

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.

[Ray1936]

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.

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

[Hamtragedy]

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

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.......

[Gistok]

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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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.

[Honky Tonk]

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.

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.

[Dan Wesson]

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.

[Richard]

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.

[Burnsie]

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.

[Dan Wesson]

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.