graffiti

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:LIRR, sorry to break it to you, but before radios were prevelant, and even to today, conductors and yard foreman mark up cars, on the corners, so the switchmen know what tracks to send them to. We use chalk, or grease-pencils, to make small doodles. A far cry, from the retards with a case of Krylon, obliterating reporting marks, and all other info on the car.
Look at some B&W pics, from before WW-11, and see the huge amount of writing, done by railroaders, to make the switching easier. Getting bored while standing on the lead, some brakeman probably doodled a picture, and the craze was born. What we do, is harmless, and has been going on, since trains first needed classifying. Every day, while switching, we have to stop, and find a number on a car. Faded on the ends (or on a flat, not there at all) and painted over on the sides, sometimes, it's not able to be seen, so it's off to the rip-track. Huge difference between that, and the "Colossus of Roads" cowboy, with his pipe, and unique sayings underneath. Or the Wildman, the "Whistle", the "Appocolypse Productions" cracked egg, the LV flag, and on and on......

I have seen some cars that come out of canada mosley cars that are marked with eather pink or orange chalk that just say POT or FOS marking what kind of fertlizer is in the car. I have also seen where the cars were so dirty that the letters were just wiped in place as clean spots on the side of the car.

Or "Waterbed Lou", "D-Kid and the Solo Artist". "Bozo Texino", "The Rambler", "Michael", etc, etc, etc.....

I seemed to notice with in 3 weeks time more cars in Lyons were taged with graffitti. In compareing photos taken 3 weeks ago I counted at leased 9 that did not have anything on them and now 3 weeks later there covered from end to end. One car got a patch job and its number reapplied. The CSX / Ex Railbox was hit hard enough that the car number is covered it was not like that before.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote: Some cars have so much artwork, there's nary a space to place a LV flag...........

You know anything about this?!

I used to write either with my gloved finger in the grime, or with a grease pencil on the end of tank cars, "Jesus Saves". Sometimes on both ends, but always somewhere on any car that I rode. Maybe some railroader somewhere will see it, and realize his need for the savior. Who knows?

Britt

1

Some of the more "sophisticated" graffiti artists now incoporate the car's initials and number into their artwork; they may paint over the company stencils, but repaint them in their work. I've seen many untouched and still displayed, and the railroads seem to leave these alone whereas cars that had their initials and numbers obliterated get a repaint.

Rocket Ass, The Rambler, and Water Bed Lou were my favorites...

An attempt at copying the LV flag, I guess.... BTW, Did NS become LV yet?........