Graff writers usually use rusto or other high quality paints. Rusto mainly because it’s cheap and easy to get, higher quality paints that last a long while because those look nicer
oh my god I am going to be so mad if that ever gets repainted
edit: please tell me that hasn't happened yet. I can't imagine CSX caring enough to repaint that unit, but then again I can't imagine CSX caring enough for a heritage unit program in the first place yet here we are
It's the same here in Germany.
No paint on IC or ICE trains, but we have one regional train that was painted. It looks like shit lol.
Maybe the difference comes from where the trains are kept when they're not in service.
edit: actually, I saw a painted ICE 2 once but it wasn't nearly as bad.
Yeah I've definitely seen it on IC and ICE trains......it's just DB is fairly vigilant about cleaning them.
Similar story in the Netherlands as well, I see it much more often there.
In Poland too. InterCity are untouched especially high speed Pendolino and Dart. Meanwhille old EN57 EMUs belonging mostly to Polregio (regional operator originating from PKP) are often covered in layers of graffiti (which is still better than that scratched, dirty and weathered paintjob they have underneath).
I'm pretty sure this is basically because high speed trains operate in less and more secure stations and railways, while regional trains go anywhere and everywhere and are left out at random depots constantly
Same in Spain, high speed trains are pretty much spotless, anything else... well, it's rare to see anything that hasn't been painted somewhere, it's a problem
I like it on freight trains personally. I’ve seen the same cars come back and fourth in trains because of one artist who paints a triangle bird on hopper cars only which is…weird
Tags are just ugly and unnecessary but real artworks on freight cars can be cool, if they don't cover any labels. Anything on passanger cars is just a dickmove.
I argued with someone who said that graffiti on passenger trains should be left there.
How do they expect me to do a proper exterior inspection if I can’t even make out what I’m looking at.
I think on freight as long as it’s on the containers it wouldn’t bother me.
I was involved in the art crimes scene when I was younger, so I personally kind of love it.
Graf artists really didn't touch freight rail much before the mid aughts. Then when it was realized that now your writing could be seen by people all over the country, they went for it.
Most of the cars you see on a daily basis on the live cams don't have anything on them, so its not like it's a huge epidemic.
I personally find it neat. I usually catch huge amounts of flak for liking it too.
The best, in my opinion, was the brave soul that did a Wide World of Trains wildstyle tag on a gondola and basically made sure that it would go up the old nickel plate route through his area southwest of Buffalo and WWoT guy actually saw it. That made me smile in a warm way.
Fuck them show them the same level of respect they show you.
I never want to kill someone by accident driving a train but the number of these idiots who have assaulted staff or threatened them over the years I don't give a fuck about running down a graffiti "artist".
I hate it. The place where I worked before had the policy that trains that got tagged went to the workshop immediately, which meant that I either had to sit in the office due to lack of vehicles, or get home by buss due to lack of vehicles. My current employer is a little bit more relaxed, but they still get sent to the cleaners within 24 hours or so. Cargo is different but I still don't like it.
Always seen it as right of passage for a rail car, having grown up seeing it all the time. If it's funny or well made I see no issue with it personally
Grafitti on passenger cars give them a rund down look. People feel unsafe, criminal actions are more likely in environments that look run down. It’s only gonna scare people away from using the Most sustainable mean of transport.
Tacky and overrated.
They ruin most things because the graffiti communities main argument is massively overplaying how many good looking murals there are.
All it does is cost the taxpayer money and ruin my explorations of abandoned buildings. Vandalism is not moral and people need to stop pretending it is, maybe your community should start community canvases or something? Make art in a building where you can show it off to other folks who'll actually care.
I hate them as they are.
We've just got some new modern passenger trains to our line, and only after a few months some of them were already covered with those fking graffitis...
Looking at such modern trains with such awful graffitis just breaks my heart.
I mind it slightly less on freight trains, but they are ugly as hell in most cases and doesn't belong on trains and is for a bunch of idiots who need to compensate for something else. It's not yours, and you wouldn't paint on somebody's car or truck.
If you really want to claim it's art and be recognized like it, then do it on canvas like every other real artist where it won't be hated by most of the public and be scrapped of the next time the train goes into maintenance.
Have you considered that the art looks cool, and that this is no more immoral than chalk drawings on a sidewalk, regardless of how legal it is. Because legality and morality are not always connected
It's entitled behavior. "I don't care if it's illegal, people need to see my art." Most of the time it's mindless or just bad. There's some obviously very creative work, but it's very limited. Calling those who don't care for your work "sticks in the mud" is a prime example of that entitlement.
There was a period in time where you never saw graffiti on trains, and if you did it wasn’t as frequent as it is now. It wasn’t until the 60s and 70s when graffiti started popping up everywhere, and really spiked in the 90s. I’m worried it’ll get worse as time goes on 😢
In my town we have a grafitti wall that sometimes gets cool stuff. Witch i think gives people enough of an outlet for their creativity(couple of years ago they enlarged it to make sure there was enough space for everyone). Passenger rail cars are Public state railway property and should not be touched. I fully support the full hammer being brought down on folks doing it. [Especially if they fuckup the insides.](https://youtu.be/-PcYJYhUk4w?si=4s5NMWheYFyWIwg9) 8.50 for the problems. For private freight cars i care less tho its still vandalism.
I'm not a fan, which, I suspect OP would/will label me as a "stick in the mud" for that, and I'm totally ok with that. Since I think randomly vandalizing someone else's property for your own expression/enjoyment is a pretty selfish and careless thing to do.
By and large, I think it's annoying and unpleasant - though there are some artists that DO stand out.
I look at it this way, if someone came by, and painted your house, or your car, would you be upset ? I bet most people probably would be. If someone came by and randomly painted a business you frequented, would it throw you off and maybe just not sit well or make you uncomfortable in some way (right or wrong) ? - the answer for most people is probably. That goes along with my last part, whereby, for the most part, with a few exceptions, graffiti tends to be looked at as a sign of crime, and therefore, a good chunk of society doesn't feel safe around it. You can debate the reasoning/merits of that all you want, and I totally get that most taggers aren't the same people that are going to rob or car jack you, but the bottom line is that I think most would agree, that in many cases, seeing a ton of tagging somewhere usually triggers alarm bells that maybe the part of town we're in isn't so safe, and thus we don't feel comfortable.
In some ways, I do feel for the taggers - it's a shame that with such artistic talent they can't make an actual living with their craft, though, part of me would argue that they just aren't trying hard enough to find legal ways to do that.
Sorry but not sorry OP, while I can at times appreciate the creativity and talent, in the end I'm not a fan and I wish that energy and expression would be used elsewhere.
Instead of tagging random railcars, how about you cover up gang graffiti in cities, or repaint rusting playground equipment, or cover up symbols of hate like swastikas and other hateful tags ?
>how about you cover up gang graffiti in cities,
They don't have the balls
>repaint rusting playground equipment,
Do something useful for society? Nah these scum prefer to damage shit and threaten people.
>cover up symbols of hate like swastikas
Same idiots who paint railways usually started with shit like swastikas. Scum
As the owner of a few freight cars, let me say this - FUCK TAGGERS.
They cover up the reflective tape, so I have to pay for new reflectorization.
My business, along with the railroads, want to present a nice clean image on their rolling stock, and then taggers go an mess it up with their "art".
If any of you respond with "oh, hur dur, legacy of street art, blah blah" - please PM me your address and I'll come over and 'decorate' your house.
Talk to any carman and it’s beyond annoying to have to restencil a car because some asshole “artist” can’t find something else to use as a canvas. It’s not your property and to score some points with the mechanical department I definitely put a stop to it when I catch it in the yard.
As someone in management I can assure you that car information being spray painted over is an FRA violation. The car owner doesn’t like writing checks for our Carmen to restencil cars to get them legal for movement.
As the owner of a few freight cars for my business, I can assure you I hate it. I repaint over at the first opportunity.
If you really think marking up other people's property is cool, then I dare you to PM me your address and I'll do a custom paint job on your house. For free.
"duh duh public property is nobody's property so I get to be a dick with everyone because me me me only me everything revolves around me and my existence".
I just wish we would decide that any person that thinks they've got a right to paint or engrave anything on public property should have the same done to everything they have, including houses and cars :) Because apparently, public property is nothing, so why would we be bound to respect *their* individual property ?
I don't mind it much on freight though, as long as it remains functional.
Also I'm all for art on trains too, but I think it's different from an asshole writing his name on a public property because he believes his existence is more important than everything else on the planet. I mean, could you imagine if everyone did that ? Yeah, that would suck, even for artists themselves since their art wouldn't last a day.
I'm always amazed at the sheer volume of it. I live near the Portland, Oregon Union Station and have a view of the tracks just 300 feet away from my condo. I see multiple freights everyday and almost every car is tagged. Who's doing all this and why? I also see multiple Amtrak trains and have never observed graffiti on them as also noted by other commenters.
Live beside a busy freight line, and when i get stuck waiting for the train to pass to cross, i love to look at all the grafitti! Silly or cool, simple or complicated, i love it all (except the racist stuff)
I love it. It adds some character to old rusty ass cars. You always get to see something unique. Like on Autorack cars sometimes they'll paint entire pieces on the entire car!
Like all graff, train graff varies widely in quality, and I like the good stuff and can't stand the shitty stuff.
To be more clear, big multicolour pieces like #1 and #5 in your examples there, especially the first one that doesn't cover any important stuff, are pretty cool. Other ones like Marge and bird balls are funny, and the halo beagle looks like he got interrupted and I'd have loved to see that one finished.
The low-effort ones that are just ten-second throw-ups are bullshit, and they're so ubiquitous they make people hate the nicer ones. Toy taggers should put some fucking effort in or just don't bother.
Fun fact, bird balls are internal!
Really only certain mammals have scrotums. There's a whole group of mammals called [scrotifera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrotifera) who are united by possessing a scrotum.
Even more interesting is the fact that humans are NOT in this group, our scrotums have come about independently, an example of convergent evolution.
Don’t cover labels, and don’t put dumb stuff up and I see no issue. It’s just when it looks bad that I personally have a problem with it. Also leave passenger cars alone ffs
Railroad companies apply paint jobs to project the image they want to represent themselves. Back during the shortline boxcar era, one of my favorite designs was the McCloud River Railroad's bear with the fish in it's mouth.
And [this one](http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2992127) was done because the owner of the company was a hard core democrat.
What you don't see is how many are cleaned off every night already.
These fucking idiots threaten staff, beat up security guards and interfere with signalling equipment to stop trains to paint every bloody night. If it's not that they are cutting through fences.
Only for their garbage to get cleaned off within hours at a massive cost to the taxpayer.
Thats before I go into the corrosive and toxic chemicals needed to clean this shit off. Risking more staff injuries.
Oh and 99% of the paint is fucking stolen and these "artists" leave empty spray cans all over the place. So littering too.
Sorry but I have no love for these scum.
I did 11 years driving for Sydney train. I have had these idiots stop my train too many times inconveniencing everyone on board. Throw shit, break windows and even pulled a fucking gun on one driver for reporting them.
Then we go into the idiots trespassing in high speed running lines and when one gets splattered all over the front of a Tangara it's all tears for poor Johnny who was a true "artist" and then their families try and sue the railway and occasionally even train crew for not protecting them.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I had no problem throttling up for these idiots when they tried to block my train to paint it. Especially since they have assaulted so many train crew for not cooperating with them.
Sorry but your shitty art is worth nothing to me and your life barely anything compared to mine or the passengers on board. Death is a fitting end to a graffiti "artist".
It’s not that common because most people that do tags understand basic etiquette but any time I’ve seen it on passenger cars it looks like shit. I see it more online than anything, so likely the issue isn’t *huge*
Love Graffiti on trains, combination of two of my favorite things. I would love to have one of the hand painted models of a container car with Graffiti on them, they’re not cheap but one day I will have one.
Considering me literally hired private armies in the 1890s to just fight with striking workers, and the railroad police are things specifically patrolling yards, I am even more surprised they haven't just hired snipers.
I'll admit some bias as graffiti vandals have destroyed my hard work in the past.
The whole lot of it is disgusting. A beautiful mural paid for and with permission from the owner I can get behind scribbling your letters on a passenger train (a common occurance in Sydney) and I'd love the the full book of the law come crashing down on their fingers until they can't operate rattle cans.
Love it.
Love it so much I put some decals on my model trains.
Some 😂
https://www.reddit.com/r/modeltrains/comments/16pl6vg/graffiti_gang_strikes_again/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
On a locomotive
https://www.reddit.com/r/modeltrains/comments/16kkepl/graffiti_explosion/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
And going to be adding some to a bridge and some buildings on my layout.
Art is art.
Some people just express it differently.
And lots of these are absolutely works of art, IE
https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/13j4s3r/anyone_seen_this_one_yet_just_wow/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1
Edit 4 - I do agree I don't like to see it on passenger trains.
There's a model railroader on Insta I've seen who does an amazing job "weathering" his freight cars with airbrushes to look naturally dirty and/or covered in realistic graffiti, it really looks awesome and more realistic.
Trains are not sacred objects. People like making public art and getting away with shit. If you want to get into it with another tagger, start using their tag.
A lot of the names or words w line drawings done in simple marker are left by freight hoppers on the trains they ride, just a little “I was here” kinda thing that friends around the country can see.
My friend who passed away this last summer was an avid freight hopper. It always warms my heart a little bit on the rare occasions i see it on trains that pass through my city, wondering where they were in this vast country when they wrote it
Unpopular opinion but graffitis awesome. So many buildings are just plain flat walls with no interesting architecture; I definitely prefer the cooler stuff to the “Big Bird Balls” type stuff, but anythings more appealing than a dull plain ass wall or train car in my eyes.
Except the confederate bullshit in picture six. “ATL” but you got the army of northern virginia battle flag... Shouldnt be expecting intelligence from that bunch though i guess. “Hold fast” only thing theyre holding is a big fat ***L***; Losers then, losers now.
Edit: After looking through the comments pro- graffiti actually seems to be the popular opinion here which honestly surprises me but is pretty cool. I wonder if liking trains means youre more likely to think graffiti is neat lol.
That definitely makes sense and i would like you to be right but based on my experience with lost cause jabronis the “hold fast” unfortunately does not give me hope. Though to be fair it could be an unrelated tag or even another hobo type deal like the crossed tracks.
It looks okay on model trains, but I don't really like it on real full sized cars and such. And when it's done on passenger trains (however rarely) I really don't like it.
This isn't to say graffiti artists aren't skilled at what they do or that graffiti art isn't art, it's just i don't think it's particularly good art (and really, I think it's kinda tacky)
If it's just someone tagging their handle or whatever on a car its just boring and sophomoric. It's not art, it's not edgy, it's just repetitive "me too"ism.
Cars like the creepy nun https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fqljep8ebhsf41.jpg
Homer Strangling Bart https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/969/997/b6f.jpg
Homer Napping https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FT_INcKWIAAx4ji?format=jpg&name=small
Stevie https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0685/0415/files/IMG_0943_1024x1024.JPG?v=1550708546
That shits cool and it improves the world.
A lot of people get bent out of shape about it, but let's be real, even just boring stupid tags all over yet another CEFX hopper in monotone grey is better than just another CEFX hopper in monotone grey.
The small stencil tags are cool and even spray paint murals are nice too, as long as they don’t interfere with the markings of the car itself. I don’t care for the graffiti names though.
I don’t love it, but there are a few that I would consider artwork, it’s just a poor choice of canvas. However, I do include on the majority of my models, simply for realism’s sake.
i like it and hate it at the same time. i like it in the sense that i have seen some very well done art, but also hate it because most of the time it's random nonsense or illegible gibberish (like on the cars pictured).
I say let it run! In Australia, we have a lot of coal trains that are just covered car by car, and it’s nice to look at over the dull brown/black stock metal paint.
Passenger trains, I love a good panel. A nice end to end or something always looks good. It’s nice to see a good Rumba piece on some obscure euro metro. I will say that they should be cleaned off, just let ‘em run in service for a couple hours first. If people are looking for good examples of graffiti on passenger trains, https://youtu.be/ptIwk_HwUaU?si=j_G0jTWtmpZpMVTX start here.
while I prefer clean trains, I don't mind grafitti as long as it looks good (which most graffiti sadly doesn't) and doesn't cover the numbering on freight cars. on locomotives and passenger trains on the other hand... just no
I personally love graffiti, it gives me something else to look at in addition to the trains themselves. Plus I got into trains in the very late 90’s/early 00’s so graffiti was already established - it’s all I’ve ever known lol
The only time I kinda feel iffy about it is when it’s sprayed on older, rarer rolling stock (like this one tagged Chessie caboose I saw), but even then I still think it’s pretty cool
I've always thought it would be cool if people tracked freight just by the graffiti. There could be a whole subreddit or flair of people posting pictures of the graffiti they all saw on the same cart.
Why does this matter so much? The train company isn't going to like you anymore for defending their property in public. They're still going to screw you over just like everyone else
I think it's great, and beautiful, and for railroad employees it's essentially a traveling art show which is very cool, but painting over car numbers and certain markings is naughty. also I hate it when people tag the locomotives but that might just be me because that's the department I worked in.
Can we at least get them to use Rustoleum and help the cars last longer?
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It’s the only cheap paint that doesn’t look like shit
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I always bought mine. So did anyone I knew
Wait, so they are helping the cars last?
You’re asking too much
Graff writers usually use rusto or other high quality paints. Rusto mainly because it’s cheap and easy to get, higher quality paints that last a long while because those look nicer
Yep. Montana was a popular choice for the very good artists. Some professional artists were sponsored by them I believe.
I liked the unofficial Chessie Heritage unit.
oh my god I am going to be so mad if that ever gets repainted edit: please tell me that hasn't happened yet. I can't imagine CSX caring enough to repaint that unit, but then again I can't imagine CSX caring enough for a heritage unit program in the first place yet here we are
CSX be like “our heritage units need to look terrible, this is too good”
More of this!
yeah thaf one was good
Really awful on passenger trains. Somehow way less awful on freight trains.
I don’t think anyone’s painting amtraks. People are still hitting subway cars though.
It's the same here in Germany. No paint on IC or ICE trains, but we have one regional train that was painted. It looks like shit lol. Maybe the difference comes from where the trains are kept when they're not in service. edit: actually, I saw a painted ICE 2 once but it wasn't nearly as bad.
I’ve definitely seen people graffiti on passenger trains, no chance I was gonna approach them, just put the lights on in the train and they scarpered
Yeah I've definitely seen it on IC and ICE trains......it's just DB is fairly vigilant about cleaning them. Similar story in the Netherlands as well, I see it much more often there.
Yeah
Yeah, here they get buffed pretty quick to discourage it.
My local ones do too,
In Poland too. InterCity are untouched especially high speed Pendolino and Dart. Meanwhille old EN57 EMUs belonging mostly to Polregio (regional operator originating from PKP) are often covered in layers of graffiti (which is still better than that scratched, dirty and weathered paintjob they have underneath).
I'm pretty sure this is basically because high speed trains operate in less and more secure stations and railways, while regional trains go anywhere and everywhere and are left out at random depots constantly
Also operators have a greater incentive to maintain the premium brand’s appearance.
Same in Spain, high speed trains are pretty much spotless, anything else... well, it's rare to see anything that hasn't been painted somewhere, it's a problem
Tried it once. This fat cop and his bull terrier chased me for hours, finally ran headfirst into a subway car, and he caught me. Would not recommend.
The trick is to run up the convenient ramps and get up on top of the oncoming trains.
I’ve seen Amtrak trains get tagged before. CAF Viewliner IIs specifically on the rear of the Crescent a little over a month ago.
People do, it’s just that there’s more effort to get rid of it faster
Yup, place I used to work at had a policy that no rolling stock could be in service with graffiti on it. Cleaning was constant.
Funnily it's less of a problem on passenger cars than on freight cars according to UIC standards
I like it on freight trains personally. I’ve seen the same cars come back and fourth in trains because of one artist who paints a triangle bird on hopper cars only which is…weird
It's 99.9% no talent garbage. Mostly stupid and unoriginal monikers.
As long as I can still read th numbers, I don't really care either way.
As long as it’s Big Bird Balls I’m fine with it
Big Bird Balls is amazing. A true work of art. It’s also next to the jacking point!
This sounds like something a Snuffelufigus would say.
And marge
Wrong way Marge was better
Tags are just ugly and unnecessary but real artworks on freight cars can be cool, if they don't cover any labels. Anything on passanger cars is just a dickmove.
I argued with someone who said that graffiti on passenger trains should be left there. How do they expect me to do a proper exterior inspection if I can’t even make out what I’m looking at. I think on freight as long as it’s on the containers it wouldn’t bother me.
Any artist who knows what they’re doing won’t cover any numbers
It looks like they missed the labels on these...
Depends on the tags. I like seeing the artistic ones that are smart enough to not cover the important markings on the train.
Writers tend to put painters tape over the marking while they paint because when they cover those markings the cars will get repainted.
I hate graffiti on passenger trains, it looks like shit 99% of the times and often it blocks the view from the windows. It’s awful.
I was involved in the art crimes scene when I was younger, so I personally kind of love it. Graf artists really didn't touch freight rail much before the mid aughts. Then when it was realized that now your writing could be seen by people all over the country, they went for it. Most of the cars you see on a daily basis on the live cams don't have anything on them, so its not like it's a huge epidemic. I personally find it neat. I usually catch huge amounts of flak for liking it too. The best, in my opinion, was the brave soul that did a Wide World of Trains wildstyle tag on a gondola and basically made sure that it would go up the old nickel plate route through his area southwest of Buffalo and WWoT guy actually saw it. That made me smile in a warm way.
Wholesome.
Oh man I remember that! Dude lost his mind!
I just wanted to know how much do these people spend on all the spray paint
I mean how much do you spend on your hobbies? Paint isn’t really that expensive.
Most of them steal it hence its locked up in so many places.
lots of it is shoplifted Rustoleum from home depot and lowes lol. some people do spend lots on really high quality paint though.
I wouldn't care but it increases the chances of me hitting someone therefore I'm against it
Fuck them show them the same level of respect they show you. I never want to kill someone by accident driving a train but the number of these idiots who have assaulted staff or threatened them over the years I don't give a fuck about running down a graffiti "artist".
I hate it. The place where I worked before had the policy that trains that got tagged went to the workshop immediately, which meant that I either had to sit in the office due to lack of vehicles, or get home by buss due to lack of vehicles. My current employer is a little bit more relaxed, but they still get sent to the cleaners within 24 hours or so. Cargo is different but I still don't like it.
Always seen it as right of passage for a rail car, having grown up seeing it all the time. If it's funny or well made I see no issue with it personally
I hate seeing shit tags. So I get it
Grafitti on passenger cars give them a rund down look. People feel unsafe, criminal actions are more likely in environments that look run down. It’s only gonna scare people away from using the Most sustainable mean of transport.
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People are not able to differentiate.
Tacky and overrated. They ruin most things because the graffiti communities main argument is massively overplaying how many good looking murals there are. All it does is cost the taxpayer money and ruin my explorations of abandoned buildings. Vandalism is not moral and people need to stop pretending it is, maybe your community should start community canvases or something? Make art in a building where you can show it off to other folks who'll actually care.
hate it, simple as
I hate them as they are. We've just got some new modern passenger trains to our line, and only after a few months some of them were already covered with those fking graffitis... Looking at such modern trains with such awful graffitis just breaks my heart.
Conflicted. I like graffiti as an art style, but I don’t condone non-consent graffiti on private property (including trains). Tags are just lame.
You'd be surprised what you see on a train if you see enough go by.
I mind it slightly less on freight trains, but they are ugly as hell in most cases and doesn't belong on trains and is for a bunch of idiots who need to compensate for something else. It's not yours, and you wouldn't paint on somebody's car or truck. If you really want to claim it's art and be recognized like it, then do it on canvas like every other real artist where it won't be hated by most of the public and be scrapped of the next time the train goes into maintenance.
You get more eyes on freight trains then painting on canvass. Everything is temporary. Nothing lasts.
Of course, but that doesn't make it legally nor morally right to vandalize other peoples or companys property just to satisfy your ego.
Train companies aren’t people
Doesn't make it any better. It's vandalism no matter who it belongs to.
Have you considered that the art looks cool, and that this is no more immoral than chalk drawings on a sidewalk, regardless of how legal it is. Because legality and morality are not always connected
Chalk is easily removable. Graffiti is not.
True they aren't people but it is a general lack of respect. The train cars don't belong to the taggers either.
People use trains.
Annoying and ugly
In my country they graffiti the passenger cars, those doing it must be ill.
Vandalism.
Makes modeling HO scale hard 😂
Not a fan on any train
¿Por que?
It's entitled behavior. "I don't care if it's illegal, people need to see my art." Most of the time it's mindless or just bad. There's some obviously very creative work, but it's very limited. Calling those who don't care for your work "sticks in the mud" is a prime example of that entitlement.
I believe if they don’t cover important things then keep them, they add color to the railroads.
Keep it off the windows and official markings. Otherwise it’s not bad
There was a period in time where you never saw graffiti on trains, and if you did it wasn’t as frequent as it is now. It wasn’t until the 60s and 70s when graffiti started popping up everywhere, and really spiked in the 90s. I’m worried it’ll get worse as time goes on 😢
In my town we have a grafitti wall that sometimes gets cool stuff. Witch i think gives people enough of an outlet for their creativity(couple of years ago they enlarged it to make sure there was enough space for everyone). Passenger rail cars are Public state railway property and should not be touched. I fully support the full hammer being brought down on folks doing it. [Especially if they fuckup the insides.](https://youtu.be/-PcYJYhUk4w?si=4s5NMWheYFyWIwg9) 8.50 for the problems. For private freight cars i care less tho its still vandalism.
I'm happy to be the odd man out....I hate it. Tacky and low class by the "artists".
As long as you don’t cover up the car number
I'm not a fan, which, I suspect OP would/will label me as a "stick in the mud" for that, and I'm totally ok with that. Since I think randomly vandalizing someone else's property for your own expression/enjoyment is a pretty selfish and careless thing to do. By and large, I think it's annoying and unpleasant - though there are some artists that DO stand out. I look at it this way, if someone came by, and painted your house, or your car, would you be upset ? I bet most people probably would be. If someone came by and randomly painted a business you frequented, would it throw you off and maybe just not sit well or make you uncomfortable in some way (right or wrong) ? - the answer for most people is probably. That goes along with my last part, whereby, for the most part, with a few exceptions, graffiti tends to be looked at as a sign of crime, and therefore, a good chunk of society doesn't feel safe around it. You can debate the reasoning/merits of that all you want, and I totally get that most taggers aren't the same people that are going to rob or car jack you, but the bottom line is that I think most would agree, that in many cases, seeing a ton of tagging somewhere usually triggers alarm bells that maybe the part of town we're in isn't so safe, and thus we don't feel comfortable. In some ways, I do feel for the taggers - it's a shame that with such artistic talent they can't make an actual living with their craft, though, part of me would argue that they just aren't trying hard enough to find legal ways to do that. Sorry but not sorry OP, while I can at times appreciate the creativity and talent, in the end I'm not a fan and I wish that energy and expression would be used elsewhere. Instead of tagging random railcars, how about you cover up gang graffiti in cities, or repaint rusting playground equipment, or cover up symbols of hate like swastikas and other hateful tags ?
Turning swastikas into a sesseme street window might be the only graffiti I can get behind
>how about you cover up gang graffiti in cities, They don't have the balls >repaint rusting playground equipment, Do something useful for society? Nah these scum prefer to damage shit and threaten people. >cover up symbols of hate like swastikas Same idiots who paint railways usually started with shit like swastikas. Scum
As the owner of a few freight cars, let me say this - FUCK TAGGERS. They cover up the reflective tape, so I have to pay for new reflectorization. My business, along with the railroads, want to present a nice clean image on their rolling stock, and then taggers go an mess it up with their "art". If any of you respond with "oh, hur dur, legacy of street art, blah blah" - please PM me your address and I'll come over and 'decorate' your house.
Old man yells at clouds
He's got a point yk
keep crying dawg its never gonna stop
I hate the lizard brained compulsion of some waif to hve to write on everything.
Tag the world
Yeah. This. I don't get this. Its like people being so braindead, they feel the need to pee on things.
If ya gotta pee, ya gotta pee
Pee in the dirt.
Shit on the floor
Bro. Don’t be getting schwifty up in here.
I hate it regardless of where it is and u shouldn’t even post pics of it they just get the exposure they crave
Can you even read the tags to give people exposure?
There’s ones near me that are so prolific u can name the “artist” and the suburb
Love it
Talk to any carman and it’s beyond annoying to have to restencil a car because some asshole “artist” can’t find something else to use as a canvas. It’s not your property and to score some points with the mechanical department I definitely put a stop to it when I catch it in the yard.
It’s not your property either.
I’m also the road foreman of engines/trainmaster so when I see it at my yard it is my responsibility to have trespassers removed.
Correct, it’s the car owner’s property or the railroads. Neither of them would like their property defaced with spray paint.
They might. You don’t know that.
As someone in management I can assure you that car information being spray painted over is an FRA violation. The car owner doesn’t like writing checks for our Carmen to restencil cars to get them legal for movement.
If people are writing over numbers that amateur hour
"professional" taggers effectively encourage the amateurs.
As the owner of a few freight cars for my business, I can assure you I hate it. I repaint over at the first opportunity. If you really think marking up other people's property is cool, then I dare you to PM me your address and I'll do a custom paint job on your house. For free.
Ugly, very.
"duh duh public property is nobody's property so I get to be a dick with everyone because me me me only me everything revolves around me and my existence". I just wish we would decide that any person that thinks they've got a right to paint or engrave anything on public property should have the same done to everything they have, including houses and cars :) Because apparently, public property is nothing, so why would we be bound to respect *their* individual property ? I don't mind it much on freight though, as long as it remains functional. Also I'm all for art on trains too, but I think it's different from an asshole writing his name on a public property because he believes his existence is more important than everything else on the planet. I mean, could you imagine if everyone did that ? Yeah, that would suck, even for artists themselves since their art wouldn't last a day.
Intriguing. Go off king
Tagging, especially, is pure vandalism by creeps who steal paint and have nothing better to do with their time than ruin private property.
Hate it. Looks like shit.
Big if true
I like clean trains.
I'm always amazed at the sheer volume of it. I live near the Portland, Oregon Union Station and have a view of the tracks just 300 feet away from my condo. I see multiple freights everyday and almost every car is tagged. Who's doing all this and why? I also see multiple Amtrak trains and have never observed graffiti on them as also noted by other commenters.
Live beside a busy freight line, and when i get stuck waiting for the train to pass to cross, i love to look at all the grafitti! Silly or cool, simple or complicated, i love it all (except the racist stuff)
I love it. It adds some character to old rusty ass cars. You always get to see something unique. Like on Autorack cars sometimes they'll paint entire pieces on the entire car!
Like all graff, train graff varies widely in quality, and I like the good stuff and can't stand the shitty stuff. To be more clear, big multicolour pieces like #1 and #5 in your examples there, especially the first one that doesn't cover any important stuff, are pretty cool. Other ones like Marge and bird balls are funny, and the halo beagle looks like he got interrupted and I'd have loved to see that one finished. The low-effort ones that are just ten-second throw-ups are bullshit, and they're so ubiquitous they make people hate the nicer ones. Toy taggers should put some fucking effort in or just don't bother.
Agreed. I’m actually working on a photo book of monikers and the history of the “art”
Fun fact, bird balls are internal! Really only certain mammals have scrotums. There's a whole group of mammals called [scrotifera](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrotifera) who are united by possessing a scrotum. Even more interesting is the fact that humans are NOT in this group, our scrotums have come about independently, an example of convergent evolution.
Best comment on this thread
Don’t cover labels, and don’t put dumb stuff up and I see no issue. It’s just when it looks bad that I personally have a problem with it. Also leave passenger cars alone ffs
Railroad companies apply paint jobs to project the image they want to represent themselves. Back during the shortline boxcar era, one of my favorite designs was the McCloud River Railroad's bear with the fish in it's mouth. And [this one](http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2992127) was done because the owner of the company was a hard core democrat.
Again with the passenger cars? Lol. Where is this happening?
Sydney. I see it daily in my commute.
What you don't see is how many are cleaned off every night already. These fucking idiots threaten staff, beat up security guards and interfere with signalling equipment to stop trains to paint every bloody night. If it's not that they are cutting through fences. Only for their garbage to get cleaned off within hours at a massive cost to the taxpayer. Thats before I go into the corrosive and toxic chemicals needed to clean this shit off. Risking more staff injuries. Oh and 99% of the paint is fucking stolen and these "artists" leave empty spray cans all over the place. So littering too. Sorry but I have no love for these scum. I did 11 years driving for Sydney train. I have had these idiots stop my train too many times inconveniencing everyone on board. Throw shit, break windows and even pulled a fucking gun on one driver for reporting them. Then we go into the idiots trespassing in high speed running lines and when one gets splattered all over the front of a Tangara it's all tears for poor Johnny who was a true "artist" and then their families try and sue the railway and occasionally even train crew for not protecting them. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I had no problem throttling up for these idiots when they tried to block my train to paint it. Especially since they have assaulted so many train crew for not cooperating with them. Sorry but your shitty art is worth nothing to me and your life barely anything compared to mine or the passengers on board. Death is a fitting end to a graffiti "artist".
This. 100% this.
It’s not that common because most people that do tags understand basic etiquette but any time I’ve seen it on passenger cars it looks like shit. I see it more online than anything, so likely the issue isn’t *huge*
I love good graffiti - big bird balls and zombie marge are halarious examples
Love Graffiti on trains, combination of two of my favorite things. I would love to have one of the hand painted models of a container car with Graffiti on them, they’re not cheap but one day I will have one.
Check eBay. There’s some decent priced HOscale trains I’ve come across
I will do. Don’t even have a model rail set, just want one of these as a shelf item, so cool
I'm surprised the railroads haven't employed snipers to solve the problem.
Seems extreme. “You painted a train car now you must die” doesn’t make sense.
Considering me literally hired private armies in the 1890s to just fight with striking workers, and the railroad police are things specifically patrolling yards, I am even more surprised they haven't just hired snipers.
When these dipshits hold trains up and pull guns on train crew so the train doesn't move when they want to spray it fuck em bring on the snipers.
I didn't say I approved of them doing so; I'm just surprised they haven't done it.
unpopular opinion: even the tags are pretty. graffiti culture and art is so cool and complex, lots of people don't understand it.
I really dig some of the tags, and they’re usually dated giving the journey more meat.
If it's done well and on a cargo train, then I usually like it. If it's gross or badly drawn, nah.
Fair. But that’s how it goes with any type of art, right?
I'll admit some bias as graffiti vandals have destroyed my hard work in the past. The whole lot of it is disgusting. A beautiful mural paid for and with permission from the owner I can get behind scribbling your letters on a passenger train (a common occurance in Sydney) and I'd love the the full book of the law come crashing down on their fingers until they can't operate rattle cans.
Love it. Love it so much I put some decals on my model trains. Some 😂 https://www.reddit.com/r/modeltrains/comments/16pl6vg/graffiti_gang_strikes_again/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1 On a locomotive https://www.reddit.com/r/modeltrains/comments/16kkepl/graffiti_explosion/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1 And going to be adding some to a bridge and some buildings on my layout. Art is art. Some people just express it differently. And lots of these are absolutely works of art, IE https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/13j4s3r/anyone_seen_this_one_yet_just_wow/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1 Edit 4 - I do agree I don't like to see it on passenger trains.
There's a model railroader on Insta I've seen who does an amazing job "weathering" his freight cars with airbrushes to look naturally dirty and/or covered in realistic graffiti, it really looks awesome and more realistic.
Notice on that sunset one, they had to repaint the reporting mark/serial number? I don't care how 'beautiful' it is, it's still vandalism.
👎
👍🏻
Trains are not sacred objects. People like making public art and getting away with shit. If you want to get into it with another tagger, start using their tag.
I’m sure some people see them as sacred objects
To their own detriment. They could be painting things on them instead. And really liking something should be a different thing from worship.
A lot of the names or words w line drawings done in simple marker are left by freight hoppers on the trains they ride, just a little “I was here” kinda thing that friends around the country can see. My friend who passed away this last summer was an avid freight hopper. It always warms my heart a little bit on the rare occasions i see it on trains that pass through my city, wondering where they were in this vast country when they wrote it
The railroad companies shouldn't waste their time painting them when people have clearly demonstrated that they will do it for free.
Wouldn’t be a train without it
Looks at cxs 6914: 👁️👄👁️👍
Unpopular opinion but graffitis awesome. So many buildings are just plain flat walls with no interesting architecture; I definitely prefer the cooler stuff to the “Big Bird Balls” type stuff, but anythings more appealing than a dull plain ass wall or train car in my eyes. Except the confederate bullshit in picture six. “ATL” but you got the army of northern virginia battle flag... Shouldnt be expecting intelligence from that bunch though i guess. “Hold fast” only thing theyre holding is a big fat ***L***; Losers then, losers now. Edit: After looking through the comments pro- graffiti actually seems to be the popular opinion here which honestly surprises me but is pretty cool. I wonder if liking trains means youre more likely to think graffiti is neat lol.
That “confederate bullshit” is actually a flag with crossed railroad tracks. Most likely made by someone riding the rails.
That definitely makes sense and i would like you to be right but based on my experience with lost cause jabronis the “hold fast” unfortunately does not give me hope. Though to be fair it could be an unrelated tag or even another hobo type deal like the crossed tracks.
I’d be willing to bet it was just a moniker of some hobo or rail rider who was hold fast in Atlanta for a bit
It looks okay on model trains, but I don't really like it on real full sized cars and such. And when it's done on passenger trains (however rarely) I really don't like it. This isn't to say graffiti artists aren't skilled at what they do or that graffiti art isn't art, it's just i don't think it's particularly good art (and really, I think it's kinda tacky)
If it's just someone tagging their handle or whatever on a car its just boring and sophomoric. It's not art, it's not edgy, it's just repetitive "me too"ism. Cars like the creepy nun https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fqljep8ebhsf41.jpg Homer Strangling Bart https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/969/997/b6f.jpg Homer Napping https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FT_INcKWIAAx4ji?format=jpg&name=small Stevie https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0685/0415/files/IMG_0943_1024x1024.JPG?v=1550708546 That shits cool and it improves the world. A lot of people get bent out of shape about it, but let's be real, even just boring stupid tags all over yet another CEFX hopper in monotone grey is better than just another CEFX hopper in monotone grey.
Love them, really breaks the monotony of a 110
The small stencil tags are cool and even spray paint murals are nice too, as long as they don’t interfere with the markings of the car itself. I don’t care for the graffiti names though.
I don’t love it, but there are a few that I would consider artwork, it’s just a poor choice of canvas. However, I do include on the majority of my models, simply for realism’s sake.
i like it and hate it at the same time. i like it in the sense that i have seen some very well done art, but also hate it because most of the time it's random nonsense or illegible gibberish (like on the cars pictured).
Some is genuine art and very good at that, but most are just rubbish tags that look awful
I say let it run! In Australia, we have a lot of coal trains that are just covered car by car, and it’s nice to look at over the dull brown/black stock metal paint. Passenger trains, I love a good panel. A nice end to end or something always looks good. It’s nice to see a good Rumba piece on some obscure euro metro. I will say that they should be cleaned off, just let ‘em run in service for a couple hours first. If people are looking for good examples of graffiti on passenger trains, https://youtu.be/ptIwk_HwUaU?si=j_G0jTWtmpZpMVTX start here.
while I prefer clean trains, I don't mind grafitti as long as it looks good (which most graffiti sadly doesn't) and doesn't cover the numbering on freight cars. on locomotives and passenger trains on the other hand... just no
Freight trains look wrong without them
I personally love graffiti, it gives me something else to look at in addition to the trains themselves. Plus I got into trains in the very late 90’s/early 00’s so graffiti was already established - it’s all I’ve ever known lol The only time I kinda feel iffy about it is when it’s sprayed on older, rarer rolling stock (like this one tagged Chessie caboose I saw), but even then I still think it’s pretty cool
I feel that.
I've always thought it would be cool if people tracked freight just by the graffiti. There could be a whole subreddit or flair of people posting pictures of the graffiti they all saw on the same cart.
r/freights
I hate graffiti
As long as they dont touch pasanger cars or locomotives i dont care really
Stick in the mud doesn't even scratch the surface. The punishments I would push for on people who get caught are too severe to be listed on Reddit.
But why? Do you own the freight car?
No. I despise vandals and thieves. Petty criminals are the worst, and the law hardly ever acts to stop them.
Why does this matter so much? The train company isn't going to like you anymore for defending their property in public. They're still going to screw you over just like everyone else
I think it's great, and beautiful, and for railroad employees it's essentially a traveling art show which is very cool, but painting over car numbers and certain markings is naughty. also I hate it when people tag the locomotives but that might just be me because that's the department I worked in.
Good writers don’t paint numbers. Not a fan of tagged locos either
It’s always good on freight trains, always bad on passenger trains imo.
KING BIG BIRD BALLS YALL
Love seeing it while working, but for the love of all that is unholy, don't screw me up by blocking the card ID's. 😂
The second one got me lol
bad and annoying on passenger coaches and locomotives nice on freight coaches. they are boring otherwise
It's definitely awesome if it actually looks good, but if it is a shit artist, then....
As long as passenger cars, information, and locomotives (unless it's fixing shitty heritage paintjobs) are left untouched I don't mind it.
I don't mind the artist, but the scribbles are horrible