Is boxcar graffiti an art form or an eyesore ?

[joesap1]

I am always amazed at which topics draw the most response. Here is the subject of boxcar graffiti and we have 3 pages of response. Incredible.

This must be yet another example of the moral decline of America. Painting another person's property without their permission is legally and morally wrong. Therefore,
it should be shunned by us all.
I hate seeing graffitti on a railway car and it certainly spoils rail fanning. The sight of a vandal's work on a freshly repainted or new rail car is particularly disgusting.
How come no one is ever caught in the act????????

[chad thomas]

3 pages on graffiti without a flame war is what's amazing. This topic usually gets quite heated. And yes this topic comes up all the time.

[HuskerHank]

Get a grip people. Its a boxcar owned by a distant and disinterested corporation. Private property, trespassing, the end of western civilization, etc etc etc, but its still a boxcar. The railroad could care less about what the boxcar looks like, so why should I? I can't help but notice that containers are very rarely painted or over the road trucks. I guess thats because somebody does care about their appearance and willing to protect it and repaint it when it does get tagged.

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joesap1

How come no one is ever caught in the act????????

Like the one who stepped back to admire his work and got smacked by another train? I'm sure they get caught, but there's so many of them, and so few people to catch them. Besides, I'm sure they work in teams...

QUOTE: Originally posted by antigates
LOL, somebody ought to "warbonnetize" some of UP's bland armour yellow locos

At the risk of inciting someone to do something illegal - repainting an entire car (which I have seen done by taggers) in a fallen flag scheme?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joesap1

Therefore,
it should be shunned by us all.

it's a free country, ya know?

I think it is wrong, would never do it myself, but I also don't think being a "snitch" has even the slightest shred of respectability, either.

When I see particularly well done graphic graffiti, I reserve the right to be impressed, irrespective of what someone else thinks my morals are "supposed" to be.

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates



I think it is wrong, would never do it myself, but I also don't think being a "snitch" has even the slightest shred of respectability, either.

Amen brother !!!

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HuskerHank

Get a grip people. Its a boxcar owned by a distant and disinterested corporation. Private property, trespassing, the end of western civilization, etc etc etc, but its still a boxcar. The railroad could care less about what the boxcar looks like, so why should I? I can't help but notice that containers are very rarely painted or over the road trucks. I guess thats because somebody does care about their appearance and willing to protect it and repaint it when it does get tagged.

It's not that the railroads don't care about the boxcar, It's just that boxcars and other types of cars like covered hoppers spend more time in places where they are more suseptable. On the other hand intermodal containers spend most of there time in secure yards on on boats where the taggers can't get to them. Plus the intermodal stuff is not as old as a lot of other cars.

I don't condone it myself and of course would never do it myself but there is no sense in getting all worked up over it. The war on graffiti would be quite futile.

[joesap1]

To " The AntiGates " who said: "it's a free country, ya know?"

Since it's a free country, then I should have the right to take a gun and shoot you.

What? You object?

Laws, particularly the moral laws that killing and stealing are considered wrong by almost everybody, keep us together as a free country.
We are not free to deface what does not belong to us.

[chad thomas]

Lets see

Spend millions of dollars to secure thousands of miles of track......
Or spend thousands of dollars to repaint the graffitied cars......
Or do nothing.

I don't think the share holders give a rats .... if the cars are graffitied.

And before someone says what if it was your house / car / bussiness....Well I live in the city these days and it happens to me from time to time (at work anyway). It's just a part of city liveing you have to deal with. There is nothing you can do about it (Realisticly).[banghead]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joesap1

To " The AntiGates " who said: "it's a free country, ya know?"

Since it's a free country, then I should have the right to take a gun and shoot you.

What? You object?

Laws, particularly the moral laws that killing and stealing are considered wrong by almost everybody, keep us together as a free country.
We are not free to deface what does not belong to us.

I wasn't saying that this being a free country gave the perpetrators the unfettered right to do the deed

My pointing out that it was a free country was more directed towards the assertion made that "it should be shunned by us all."

As in - please don't try to make that decision for me-.

If somone happens to enjoy watching graffiti'd cars roll by, and they have not done the tagging themselves, what business is it of anybody's if they "shun" or "relish" the visual opportunity?.


Lust is a sin too, but if some young hottie drops a dollar in front of me and bends over to pick it up, I'll be darned if I will shun the opportunity to nurture lust in my heart

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joesap1



Since it's a free country, then I should have the right to take a gun and shoot you.

What? You object?

Oh and A-Hem...then you'd have to deal with me.....I suspect it would be you praying for a cop to intervene.

[chad thomas]

Makes mental note: Don't let anti around my women.

[joesap1]

Great response AntiGates!

I respect your opinion, but it is the philosophy that "if it appears not to hurt anyone and it does not bother me" that has allowed crime to escalate in America.
We should be concerned when we see other persons or their property damaged.
A flippant attitude, a c'est la guerre, what-me-worry, and the such like is a sad commentary on the state of America.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Vandalism of corporate property just doesn't bother me. I see it as being very different from vandalism of individual or public property. Do the railroads really care? Or do they just like to make examples of a selected few whom they manage to catch? I'm inclined to believe the latter. The bigger the stink, the more people want to do it.

Railroad cars make the perfect mobile canvas. They are parked in remote locations for long periods of time. There is a low risk of being caught. What do you expect?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joesap1

Great response AntiGates!

I respect your opinion, but it is the philosophy that "if it appears not to hurt anyone and it does not bother me" that has allowed crime to escalate in America.
We should be concerned when we see other persons or their property damaged.
A flippant attitude, a c'est la guerre, what-me-worry, and the such like is a sad commentary on the state of America.

Well, let's just say where I'm going after I die, having to pay the gas bill will never be a problem.. On the positive side, I'm fairly sure most of my friends will be there too....so, why worry? [;)]

Question related but slightly off topic. Fireworks are illegal in many states, so should we be reporting anyone who sets off a fire cracker?

[solzrules]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HuskerHank

Get a grip people. Its a boxcar owned by a distant and disinterested corporation. Private property, trespassing, the end of western civilization, etc etc etc, but its still a boxcar. The railroad could care less about what the boxcar looks like, so why should I? I can't help but notice that containers are very rarely painted or over the road trucks. I guess thats because somebody does care about their appearance and willing to protect it and repaint it when it does get tagged.

Actually when the Wisconsin Central was in full swing Bill Burkhardt (I think he was the big chesse) said that the railroad was making an effort to keep the rolling stock clean - in order to encourage new business and to keep the business that they had. The reasoning was that a clean and presentable boxcar (yes it is just a boxcar) with the company logo on it was the best salesmen they could have. It must have worked out pretty good for them because they worked miracles with traffic on the old Soo Line tracks.

[solzrules]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TheAntiGates

QUOTE: Originally posted by joesap1

Therefore,
it should be shunned by us all.

it's a free country, ya know?

I think it is wrong, would never do it myself, but I also don't think being a "snitch" has even the slightest shred of respectability, either.

When I see particularly well done graphic graffiti, I reserve the right to be impressed, irrespective of what someone else thinks my morals are "supposed" to be.

I don't know this is a discussion of 'morals'. The whole reason we have laws is because everyones' morals are different. I would have to agree with you, though, sometimes the work is very artistic. Still illegal and juvenille, but artistic.

[vsmith]

My usuall answer to this raging debate.....



[:0][;)][:D]

[Anonymous]

I had a though occur to me the other day about the topic that comes around every so often about when did railroad graffiti appear. The first railroad graffiti wasn’t on the cars, it was on things like water towers, where hobos would carve information (about the locals and what train the took to where). This would have gone on for a long time, since the early days of bumming (right?). In fact Jack London wrote a story about hobos, that's what gave me this idea. Any body got any models out there with hobo markings on the water tower?

Incidently I vote eyesore.

[Anonymous]

There is a Federal Railroad Aministration ruling that freight cars must have reflective striping for higher visibilty at grade crossings.

The Tagging form of graffiti will end up painting over these stripes on boxcars.

Take a look at Wisconsin Central Boxcars that have been tagged.

Tagging is a safety hazard

Andrew F.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would think that railroads would be taking a liability risk in moving a car that had its side reflectors obscurred by graffiti. They are said to be paint resistant, but I suspect that they could be readily covered with paint.

[Anonymous]

I thought that the UP "flag" loco's were some taggers idea of a joke until I started seeing dirty ones and realized that UP was doing it intentionally. [banghead]

[Modelcar]

...This unending question of graffiti: Same answer in thought as I always provide....It's against the law and is simply destroying someone else's property....Art or not....

[Hugh Jampton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by falconer

There is a Federal Railroad Aministration ruling that freight cars must have reflective striping for higher visibilty at grade crossings.

The Tagging form of graffiti will end up painting over these stripes on boxcars.

Take a look at Wisconsin Central Boxcars that have been tagged.

Tagging is a safety hazard

Andrew F.

You could try encouraging the graffittiers to use reflective paint..