The simple line drawings like Bozo Texeno and Conrail Twitty are OK and where probably done by conductors and car knockers who have paint markers. But Graffiti takes time and punks bringing in bags of spray paint risking life and limb into railroad yards.
With the railroads emerging in both tonnage and the public’s eye one would think there would be some pride associated with that. But the message is lost.
Recently, I served on a local municipal board. When the topic of the town’s railroad came up, inevitably, graffiti was mentioned. More recently, I shared some nicely detailed railroad models with non-rail friends. Both times I was told, “you outta put some graffiti on there.”
What we can gather from this is that the vandals are getting their message out far and away better than the railroads. Imagine that.
One of the best run and proud railroads in the country is Pennsylvania’s Reading and Northern. Recently, a “war on graffiti” was announced by Andy Mueller the line’'s president. That’s the only instance of an effort mounted by a railroad nationwide to discourage graffiti from their freight equipment. RBMN wants to look in good order and impressive in the public’s eye. Maybe it will catch on.
I sure wish them success with that. They should get together with their peers and turn this into an industry wide initiative, maybe through the AAR. Another industry class act, RJ Corman, famously stated that “you can’t be any good if you don’t look good”. Certainly, from a marketing perspective that’s true; appearance and presentation are as important as substance.
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A corporate brand and image works in big ways that go far beyond simple business logistics. How many shipments do you think U.P. would lose if they just ran their equipment in red oxide paint with no name or logos? Yet they will spend lots of money taking anybody to court who tampers with those intangible symbols. Why?
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On the whole graffiti has probably hurt the industry… but we will never know to what extent because no one keeps track of phone calls NOT made or business deals not consummated. I can tell you from first hand experience that customers do notice appearances. They correlate appearance with capability… they figure if your equipment looks ratty and marked up then your service must be ratty too. That may not be fair or true, but that’s how its perceived. Maybe things are different on the rail side as shippers generally don’t have that much choice.
Yes, I agree, but that is my point. They would not lose any shipments, so why do they care about paint schemes, logos, brand, and image? There must be a reason. These things cost a lot of money. If destroying them with graffiti did not matter, why would they spend the money on them in the first place?
Since the UP’s paint scheme for boxcars IS oxide red with only required lettering and a very small UP shield, and their carloadings are going up, I would have to say that it would make no difference whatsoever.
Generally the folks who have done well in business (like RJ Corman) will tell you that image matters a lot.
They still have a logo, brand, and image. Corporations will vigorously defend their brand against someone else using it or tampering with it because if they allow such, it diminishes their claim on it. Tampering with a corporate brand is like poking a hornet’s nest. To me, that is evidence that it matters. So I reject the tortured premise that railcar graffiti only exists because it does not matter to railroad companies.
My point is that graffiti on the outside of a railcar has an effect that matters, even though it does not interfere with the ability of the car to carry a load down the tracks.
Yes, some will even vigorously defend their image in the HO scale hobby market (Union Pacfic, CN). They wouldn’t be doing that if image didn’t matter.
Obviously it does or else why bother to paint cars with anything other than rust protection + dimensional and other data? Or why go to the expense of heralds?
Have any of you driven past a UP engine facility recently? I road my bike past the Roseville Engine shop this morning. Some of those engines are so paint faded, so beat up and so covered in dirt that they look as gray as the SP units that used to be there. And if Image was so important, why did BNSF let bad paint from GE sit on various Dash-9s. Both Red and Silver and Pumpkin. Fading away to horribleness over decades. For that matter, why hasn’t everything been through the paintshop with all the Warbonnets eliminated yet? It’s been what? 18 years?
There is a difference between using a brand (XYZ company representing itself as part of the UP or using the UP logo to create the impression they have a relationship with the UP) and soiling one example of a logo.
Using or infringing on a brand costs business/revenue, directly affects customers and creates actual liability. A tagger does none of those things.
I think that I have heard the figure of $50K to paint an engine when materials and personnel time are all added up. I don’t know what the expected life span of the ‘normal’ paint job is, but I would expect it to at least be the period between major rebuilds - if accident damage does not intervene.
Well, look how long the MILW bandits lasted…
Okay, so if railroads spend money to apply attractive paint jobs and logos on their equipment, then that’s just perfect because it yields real benefit. But if they let paint jobs fade and get burned without timely repair, well then that too is just fine. It doesn’t hurt a thing. And if graffiti vandals deface expensive paint jobs, well gee, that is just perfectly okay too because it doesn’t matter a bit. However the railroads react to any of this is just perfect.
Metal is painted to protect it from the ravages of Mom Nature; to keep it from rusting and/or corroding. The concept of image and beauty are secondary considerations.