In recent years, I have watched vintage 8mm railroad films, shot by railfans and uploaded to the InterTubes.
This is anecdotal, of course, but I am struck by the clean condition of the freight cars in 1950s/60s films. The logos are all easy to read, there is no graffiti, and no massive rust like you started to see in the 70s and 80s. Older cars show some weathering but nothing like you would see in more recent decades.
Does my observation reflect reality, or did I happen to click on the right films?
Sixty or so years ago, you may have seen some chalk marks on cars–but there was no paint applied by people who have no respect for other people’s property. And, I do not think that this difference was because such paint was not available back then.
60 years ago rattle can spray paint wasn’t cheap or readily available additionally the tagger mentality had yet to be created. Following WW II the carriers not only renewed their motive power fleet but also their car fleets that were worn out by their service during the war.
If some loser painted over those slogans in those days the Railroad PO-lice would be on them right quick. They would also be shamed in the press and prosecuted to the max. Probably have to clean it up and pay for repairs too.
If the railroads cared, they would do something about. If someone vandalized your property, would you just say shucks, too bad and leave it as is, or would you restore the property back to it’s original condition?
Passing off society’s ills as justification for not maintaining one’s property, doesn’t cut it among private citizens. Railroads are like a bunch of vehicles that have been in a series of minor fender benders, that the owners never seem to have repaired. The owners justify the lack of repair, by stating there’s too many reckless drivers these days, and society won’t enforce driving laws. Same deal with the mentality towards graffiti and RR’s here.
There’s very little objective thinking going on here. Try using such rationalization with your local property abatement officer.
I think the better comparison is the Ford Pinto gas tank issue. Ford apparently decided it was cheaper to pay the claims than to fix the problem in the first place.
So it is with the railroads, I would opine. As long as the information necessary to operate is available (reporting marks, etc), why waste the time and materials to cover up (or completely refinish) the grafitti? And many taggers have gotten smart - they leave or work around the reporting marks and such so their work of art doesn’t get covered up as quickly.
Of course, there are those who feel that if it weren’t for the taggers, the cars wouldn’t see any paint at all.
But I’m wandering into forbidden territory here, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead.
Since more and more cars are shipper or lessor-owned, the RR’s have no incentive to repaint those. The time lost to take equipment out of service and pay a painter counts against the owners bottom line.
As a rule, I don’t like graffitti, but I did see the work of a clever tagger in Florida a few months ago. He painted over the FEC marks and road number on a stack car, and then removed the vinyl lettering, essentially using it as a mask.
In the 40’s - 50’s and 60’s rail employment encompassed many more people than it does in the 21st Century.
I came across a B&O Magazine from the middle 50’s announcing a promotion for my father - a ‘tag line’ in one of the articles mentioned the 50K people of the ‘B&O Family’. CSX, which includes the B&O as well as C&O, ACL, SAL, L&N (all of which would have had similar employment levels) as well as a host of smaller properties Georgia RR, Clinchfield, Gainesville Midland, Western Maryland, A&WP, W of Alabama and a number of others I probably have forgotten (parts of the NYC & PRR) now employs less than 30K. There were 127 Class 1 carriers in 1950 and in the 21st Century there are 7.
Employment numbers mean boots on the ground - boots on the ground mean a ever present manned presence in far flung locations - far flung locations that don’t have that manned presence today and have thus
Back when the Guide listed all sorts of people working for railroads, the larger roads had freight and passenger representaives in many, including off-line, places. Do the roads still have freight representatives scattered about the country?
Ford may have made a decision that paying the claims for gas tank explosions was cheaper than fixing the problem. But I doubt their decision was sound when they factored in the damage it caused to their brand. That had to be ten-thousand times more costly than what they saved by not fixing the gas tank problem. I believe that same effect follows the Pinto analogy into the failure to maintain freight cars, in the sense that the value benefit of not maintaining the freight cars is more than offset by the cost of brand damage.
I am in complete agreement with you regarding that the Pinto fiasco was damaging to Ford’s reputation. They could, and should have been required to rectify their engineering faux pas.
OTOH, there are so many different freight car owners whose assets have been denegrated by taggers it would not be equatable for most to require repainting each time one were defaced. It would severely affect their profits.
How many more employees would the carriers need to put on the payroll to prevent your version of ‘brand damage’, and what would be the cost of those employees in direct pay and fringe benefits.
How can the markings applied to the exerior of freight cars by childish people cause damage to the freight carried therein? I see no parallel to the gas tank problem of certain Ford cars.
BLS53
If the railroads cared, they would do something about. If someone vandalized your property, would you just say shucks, too bad and leave it as is, or would you restore the property back to it’s original condition?
Passing off society’s ills as justification for not maintaining one’s property, doesn’t cut it among private citizens. Railroads are like a bunch of vehicles that have been in a series of minor fender benders, that the owners never seem to have repaired. The owners justify the lack of repair, by stating there’s too many reckless drivers these days, and society won’t enforce driving laws. Same deal with the mentality towards graffiti and RR’s here.
There’s very little objective thinking going on here. Try using such rationalization with your local property abatement officer.
In the 40’s - 50’s and 60’s rail employment encompassed many more people than it does in the 21st Century.
I came across a B&O Magazine from the middle 50’s announcing a promotion for my father - a ‘tag line’ in one of the articles mentioned the 50K people of the ‘B&O Family’. CSX, which includes the B&O as well as C&O, ACL, SAL, L&N (all of which would have had similar employment levels) as well as a host of smaller properties Georgia RR, Clinchfield, Gainesville Midland, Western Maryland, A&WP, W of Alabama and a number of others I probably have forgotten (parts of the NYC & PRR) now employs less than 30K. There were 127 Class 1 carriers in 1950 and in the 21st Century there are 7.
“- No discussions about train-hopping, hobos, or the hobo lifestyle. It’s dangerous, illegal, and sets a poor example for the youth that visit this forum. Plus, like graffiti discussions, it usually leads to arguments.”
I heard today that there was an engine stored in North Platte that someone or ones covered with a non-standard decorative display. I don’t know if it was kind of artistic, but some thought the engine might get displayed because of it. Instead, they had the engine repainted back to a standard decorative display state.
Supposedly, the “artists” filmed themselves applying the non-standard decorative display. Afterwards, they posted it to youtube. I tried (although not very hard) to find it. I couldn’t, so if true it may have been pulled. Or I just don’t know the right words to search for it.
