Railcar graffiti

[mccauley]

Is it my imagination, or has graffiti on rolling stock gotten worse lately?

There's a siding nearby used for surplus rolling stock storage, with room for about 30 autoracks. Observing a group of them recently parked there, I don't think there were more than about five that were totally clean. A few others only had a little bit, but on the rest, at least half the group, it was very noticeable. A few were almost completely covered with it to a height of about 8 feet, and on a couple you couldn't even read the reporting marks. (All this is based on viewing one side only.)

Where does most of this "tagging" take place? Do the railroads consider it a serious problem? I should think that when someone spray paints a loaded autorack there would be a concern about the spray paint drifting inside and marring the finish of the vehicles.

I'd never be one to advocate vandalism to railcars or trespassing on the property where they sit. An occasional bit of graffiti may make a long string of nearly identical cars less boring to watch, but lately it's gotton so common that I'm more disgusted by it than anything. Am I just noticing it more or has it in fact been getting worse?

[Anonymous]

I was watching a mixed freight go by on the BNSF Aurora-Galesburg(Il.) mainline today and almost every boxcar had some kind of graffiti on it.

[eolafan]

I also frequent the Aurora area like Ron, and see lots of "artwork" on cars through here all the time. You 'gotta admit, though, that some is very good work, and I sure prefer some of it to the rusted out hulks that the BNSF and other roads are pulling around these days.

[Anonymous]

Graffiti has probably become the most commonly practiced form of vandalism, next to busting out signal and crossing lights. A few months ago, I saw a group of kids placing rocks and bottles on the track before a train came and had sat off to the side waiting for the rain to come. It's obvious to tell that vandalism has gotten worse. Now most class 1 Railroads have there own police departments, some even with K-9 Units. Police have also taken more close watch to Railroad Right of ways and their property. About a year or two ago near my house, a teenager was spraying a car on a stopped train on a double track mainline - on a curve. He was standing on the other track doing his "work" when Amtrak clipped him at 70 miles per hour, kiling him. His parents Sued Union Pacific, saying that their son was just expressing his talent for art, and was not doing any harm to anyone. I'm not sure if they won or not, but it just goes to show how much trust railfans have lost from the railroads and the police. What is worse is that some policeman can't tell if you're a train watcher, or someone about to vandalize. I've become "friends" with BNSF's Springfield, Missouri Policeman, and the Franklin County Sheriff has my name and address. The Springfield policeman understood what I was doing, and did not have a problem, but the Sheriff did not. I would never do anything to harm any railroad, and I help whenever possible. The worst thing I've done, and still do sometimes, is put a penny on the track, -which I'm sure everyone has done! I just got my first 2002 penny, I can already tell you, it's doomed!

[corwinda]

Graffiti on raicars does seem to have become more common in the last few years. I think that is mostly a symptom of more tagging overall; though I do seem to notice less effort by the railroads to paint it over.

The tagging mostly happens when trains stop or cars are parked in cities.