An idea for the Railroad Industry

There are alternatives to removing paint with solvents, a high pressure baking soda system seems to be the ticket for this job.

The problem, though, is devising a system which will remove the paint comprising the graffiti, while leaving the paint of the original coating of the car and the reporting marks.

ns
 
I wonder if this also has to do with a lot of modern cars being owned privately? Back when American railroads owned the cars, they had areas and times when the cars would be pulled off for cleaning and care. Do the private owners have that?

Couple further thoughts on this topic. There has long been graffiti on railroad cars, and some of it was even sanctioned. Years ago, in railroad classification yards, clerks and trainmen would use chalk to mark on cars where they were going, as an assist to classifying cars. The chalk was also used for other items too. The graffiti "JBKING, ESQ" goes back to the early 20th century, the entire signature being written in script, without lifting the chalk from the surface of the car. In the 1970's, I remember a lot of cars bearing a drawing, signed "Bozo Texino", and in fact, the entire topic rates a book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810992493/002-1621279-2311259?v=glance&n=283155


A principal difference between the old timers, and more recent taggers is the change from chalk to spray paint. As far as the ownership of cars being an issue, I doubt that the ownership has much to do with this. Railroad cars, both railroad owned, and private, are inspected on a regular basis, and I do know that the usual practice is that obvious obscenities are generally repainted fairly quickly. In the case where an inspector identified an obscenity on a privately owned car, if bad enough, the car would be quickly repainted in the yard, and the owner would be billed, and if it was more was required, as soon as the car was empty, it would be moved to a maintenance facility where repainting would be performed. BTW, taggers are sometimes caught in the act, I know they have been prosecuted.

ns
 
I saw a box car come though denver last year, it had been tagged, but rather then gang signs or the usual crap, it was a mural of a snake with hills in the background. I really wish I had a camera with me. Its weird to say, but it was one of the best looking box cars I have ever seen.

of course, this nice painting was painted over previous graffiti, which was stilling sticking out the bottom, which i thought was kind of funny
 
I have to agree with Klinger, most graffiti is vulgar but often you see artistic masterpeices on what otherwise would be a weatherbeaten railroad car.

Besides that, such graffiti makes an interesting thing to model on a train.

And i meant theres no cost effective way to remove graffiti AFTER its put on cars, not programs to deture people from doing it.
 
Sitting trackside in Omaha, I see a lot of graffiti. IIRC, there was a lawsuit filed by a lady and her family claiming that "seeing the vulgar graffiti emotionally damaged her children". I do not condone it in any way, shape, or form.
Why don't railroads pay more attention to the cars that have graffiti on them? I can't find the figures, but I know UP owns 8,000 engines. Now, think about how many cars the railroad owns and hauls. Thats a lot. Repainting or patching that many cars would be an astronomical cost. Would you want to pay that much to keep a sparkely clean train? Don't think so.
One of the more interesting cars I have seen was an older grain car that was completely rusty on one side, and have a Patriotic Mural on the other. The guy who tagged it avoided painting over any marking on the side of the car. I noticed it after I started chasing it...I was lucky I did or I would have missed it.
 
Most railroads exept for BNSF keep their power clean. The condition those warbonnets are in is ridiculus, there arent even that many left, but they still dont give a damn to atleast repaint them to their original red. Pink is what the red has faded into. Even UP keeps alot of their SP power a little more clean than that. I almost cried when I saw graffiti on an old c40-8w in ATSF colors, it was the worst thing I had ever seen!
 
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Train washers to exist...at least one does anyway. There is one located at the GE Locomotive plant Erie. There is a video.....let me see if I can find it and link to it.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQjQxMVz9P4. There...watch the video and you see a locomotive cruise through it. Might be a bit much to run an entire train through it
 
Most railroads exept for BNSF keep their power clean. Tha condition those warbonnets are in is ridiculus, there arent even that many left, but they still dont give a damn to atlest repaint them to their original red. Pink is what the red has faded into. Even UP keeps alot of their SP power a little more clean thatn that. I almost cried when I saw graffiti on an old c40-8w in ATSF colors, it was the worst thing I had ever seen!

i really wouldnt be saying that too loud....
CSX
http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=991894
SP patch
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=180874&nseq=0
UP
http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=154420&nseq=6
NS
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=204147&nseq=20 (no that isnt from the exploding radiator fan:P )
CN
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=113618&nseq=4
CP
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=216293&nseq=0
KCS
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=204590&nseq=2
:hehe:
 
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I always suspected that other countries that have less graff is due to their trackage. I know many countries have fences between their tracks and the rest of the "world." In the US, fences are somewhat rare.
________
Laguna Bay Condos Prathumnak
 
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True. Rolling stock is a prime target for graffiti, which act like a traveling billboard for the artists.
 
True. Rolling stock is a prime target for graffiti, which act like a traveling billboard for the artists.

Speaking of advertising, here's a good idea: Commercial Companies such as coke and anything else thats huge, sponser railcars, and paint advertisments on the sides, and pay to get graffiti and such removed? Saves RRs money, while brininging imn profits from advertising to the companies.
 
It's my understanding that the ICC banned "billboard" rail cars in 1937. That may have changed, I don't know.
Ed
 
It's my understanding that the ICC banned "billboard" rail cars in 1937. That may have changed, I don't know.
Ed

I read in a recent issue of Trains Magazine that there's talk of bringing them back. Instead of painting the cars, they would be covered in the 3M plastic wrap.

John
 
I think that would be splendid, however, I imagine the cars would have to be primed over at least, to prevent any existing marks from showing through.
Ed
 
why wash Freight cars when they would be attacked again?

Cheers,
Sean

Because seeing their scribblings is the purpose of the scribbling. If it disappears before people get to admire the "art" the graph-taggers go somewhere else.
Snipers with night-vision scopes would also help discourage the destructive little tykes, but then there are some liability problems that crop up.

:cool: Claude
 
snippers?!?

Because seeing their scribblings is the purpose of the scribbling. If it disappears before people get to admire the "art" the graph-taggers go somewhere else.
Snipers with night-vision scopes would also help discourage the destructive little tykes, but then there are some liability problems that crop up.

:cool: Claude


SNIPPERS?! Come on we're not that bad!

http://i13.tinypic.com/6sg6iau.jpg

and as you can see from the link the concept of sniper and vandal go we'll together in Falujah!
 
It's my understanding that the ICC banned "billboard" rail cars in 1937. That may have changed, I don't know.
Ed

The ban on "billboard" rail cars applied only to non-owner advertising on carrier owned equipment. Privately owned railcars are still permitted to have billboard style graphics, and a few still do, though I haven't noted any new cars where the owner bothers, at least not since the 1970's and 1980's, when a number of grain elevators leased equipment, and painted their names on the side. Railroads are still permitted to advertise themselves on their cars, the way ATSF and CRIP did when they used their boxcars to advertise the routes of their passenger trains. The fact is, though, that railroads in general are not as visible to the general population as they once were--a fair amount of urban trackage has been pulled up, and most new trackage is a not easily seen by the general public, and in those cases where a public right of way parallels a railroad, the right of way is not generally very well traveled. Where a well traveled public highway does parallel a rail line with significant density, the traffic on both generally is moving fast enough that the car would not be as recognizable as a roadside sign, so in general, I doubt that the sides of freight cars will ever be viewed by those in charge of marketing as a cost effective means of promoting a product or service.

ns
 
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