As I watched a BNSF train of auto rack cars pass today, I noticed that 90 percent of them were covered with graffiti. Frankly, some of it was very well done.
The graffiti covered the lower portion of the car. Presumably the hoods that put the graffiti on the cars used spay paint. Assuming this is correct, does the spray go through the holes in the side of the car and hit any vehicles in it?
Where do most of the hoods do their thing, i.e. large city yards, sidings, etc.?
Are the railroad police powerless to stop them or does management not care? Or have they just given up trying to prevent it.
The sides of the auto-rack cars are well designed, so as far as I know any paint sprayed on the sides, especially from a fairly low-pressure dispenser like a spray can, doesn’t reach the automobiles inside.
Powerless to stop it, don’t care, given up? Probably a combination of all three.
Unfortunately the grafitti “artists” find those blank car sides an irresistable canvas, the Tropicana cars are in the same situation. Considering how complex some of those grafitti designs are I’d have to assume they’re applied in yards, no way could you do it on a moving train.
Saw one some years ago on which the entire side of the car was painted - top to bottom. The “background” was a nice blue, though. The lettering covered the entire side of the car. That’s a lot of rattle cans…
There really aren’t a whole lot of railroad cops compared to the large territory they have to cover. And it is very easy for trespassers to hide in between cars in yards.
I agree that most of the more detailed and complex graffiti is done when the cars are stored in unattended and/or outlying areas.
Execelent observation! [:-^] Just recently, within the last 3 or 4 weeks, those auto rack cars are starting to move West…At least one train, of autoracks a day has been passing here; graffiti seems to be more evident than usual, on many.
[:-,]Strange, though is the double unit sets (completely enclosed cars, I think many are in assigned service to one customer(?). I have not seen many of those, primarily, they have been BNSF and AOK…
Have not seen any of the KCS car sets yet. Those have always seemed to escape the ‘artists’; very little ‘art’ has been rendered on them, in the past. They, regular auto racks, must be piling up on the west coast; giving the local ‘artists’ subjects to work on(?) [sigh]
Maybe a better question is how they can get in, with a ladder, and do that much painting without detection, particularly in a manned yard. I can see it if the car is in storage in the middle of nowhere.
And it’s not just here either! Several years ago a poster linked a photo of a freight train in Italy that had been tagged with the same kind of crap you see in this country!
Being of Italian extraction I was most disappointed and displeased! I might have expected well-executed replicas of work by Raphaello, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Caravaggio, Donatello, well, you get the picture! But noooooooo…
I know how you feel. Imagine my disappointment when I saw photos of Norwegian train cars with graffiti vandalism. Not a single fjord on any of them! [:-^]
Railroad police with one class 1 I am aware of have been cutting their police department manpower and rumor is to possibly eliminate them and rely on security guards. Some railroad police are not doing any trespassing or traffic (crossing) enforcement and are basically doing work for their respective Claims Dept. Years ago railroads upped the dollar amount of damage or theft of a commodity/loss to the point a shipper would be unable to file a claim, (unless the whole railcar burned up) Just handled through new freight rates. Cheaper shipping rate to not file a claim in the event of loss or damage unless major…
