Why is there a lot of graffiti seen on American freight cars today?

JonMyrlennBailey

Active member
Why do American roads tolerate it or do they have stiff penalties for this sort of behavior?

If I were a RR owner, I would have zero tolerance for this behavior and prosecute those paint-can-happy

punks to the fullest extent of the law. It's total vandalism and no respect for private property or

American beautification.
 
Because the graffiti artists are mostly hard core drug addict bum gang members, who shoplift spray paint, and actually catching them in the act is hard to do (even though they carry ladders and masking tape into the yard, work in teams using two way radios, and cell phones, and digital cameras, signaling each other with flashlights), and they can paint a extended height 86' railcar from end to end, inside of 10 minutes, from bottom to top, wearing cotton breathing masks, getting high on the top quality Krylon zylene spray paint

They caught one guy in Wilmington DE, and seized his nearby parked car, that contained several large photo albums, documenting thousands of his artworks, and they gave him 6 months in jail

Being so naïve ... You will probably not even hear them breaking into, and ransacking your own house, as you sleep, the same night as terrorizing a rail yard, high on meth

A FRA cop has an area of 125 miles to patrol ... By the time he arrives on scene they have stolen an entire boxcar of thousands of sheets of plywood ... Some thieve organized crime gangs actually computer hack into a database, and track a particular railcar across country, and plot out a weeks long highly organized plan, employing a dozen organized gang affliates, and haul off with 10,000 cases of liquor and several railcars(s) of electronics ... one Conrail cop was nearly beaten to death with a air brake hose, in premeditated retaliation, all because he arrested their fellow gang member on a previous night

Several 500 lb penetration bombs are still missing from the S Phila rail yard, when they tracked, and stole a USN munitions shipment, right next to a Multiple Rocket Launcher

These are not your average Jokers ! They are not playing games !
 
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It's not just American Railcars and such that have graffiti. Watch just about any European train videos on YouTube (videos looking out the cab window) and you'll see lots of graffiti on railway stations, walls and buildings next to RR tracks, etc. It's because there are so many JERKS out there who have no respect for private property.

BTW, you don't see that in Japan, China, Thailand and other Asian countries where people still have and are taught respect and honor.
 
It's not just American Railcars and such that have graffiti. Watch just about any European train videos on YouTube (videos looking out the cab window) and you'll see lots of graffiti on railway stations, walls and buildings next to RR tracks, etc. It's because there are so many JERKS out there who have no respect for private property.

BTW, you don't see that in Japan, China, Thailand and other Asian countries where people still have and are taught respect and honor.

In Asian countries like Singapore you will get arrested for littering the street which I highly applaud. I hate slobs. The Asians still have old-fashioned work ethics like mules too.
 
Because the graffiti artists are mostly hard core drug addict bum gang members, who shoplift spray paint, and actually catching them in the act is hard to do (even though they carry ladders and masking tape into the yard, work in teams using two way radios, and cell phones, and digital cameras, signaling each other with flashlights), and they can paint a extended height 86' railcar from end to end, inside of 10 minutes, from bottom to top, wearing cotton breathing masks, getting high on the top quality Krylon zylene spray paint

They caught one guy in Wilmington DE, and seized his nearby parked car, that contained several large photo albums, documenting thousands of his artworks, and they gave him 6 months in jail

Being so naïve ... You will probably not even hear them breaking into, and ransacking your own house, as you sleep, the same night as terrorizing a rail yard, high on meth

A FRA cop has an area of 125 miles to patrol ... By the time he arrives on scene they have stolen an entire boxcar of thousands of sheets of plywood ... Some thieve organized crime gangs actually computer hack into a database, and track a particular railcar across country, and plot out a weeks long highly organized plan, employing a dozen organized gang affliates, and haul off with 10,000 cases of liquor and several railcars(s) of electronics ... one Conrail cop was nearly beaten to death with a air brake hose, in premeditated retaliation, all because he arrested their fellow gang member on a previous night

Several 500 lb penetration bombs are still missing from the S Phila rail yard, when they tracked, and stole a USN munitions shipment, right next to a Multiple Rocket Launcher

These are not your average Jokers ! They are not playing games !

The punks are not just tagging trains but buses, courthouses, public property and private automobiles.

There ought to be a waiting period, age restriction, registration, permit requirements and background check for purchasing spray paint cans: the hell with doing that with guns.

But a stiff prison sentence might be still more effective.

Let me, shotgun in my hand, catch someone near my car with a rattle can!
 
The punks are not just tagging trains but buses, courthouses, public property and private automobiles.

There ought to be a waiting period, age restriction, registration, permit requirements and background check for purchasing spray paint cans: the hell with doing that with guns.

But a stiff prison sentence might be still more effective.
They steal the spray paint ... Just like car thieves steal cars ... Most take a lot of time to mask around railcar stenciling, so they don't obliterate railcar markings, and some are absolute works of art ... Judges reserve stiff prison sentences for homeowners who take the law into their own hands, making terroristic verbal (written) threats ... "a waiting period, age restriction, registration, permit requirements and background check" ... This makes me LOL :hehe:
"Let me, shotgun in my hand, catch someone near my car with a rattle can"
 
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Mr. Snow, I'm an Army Veteran and I know about barracks police calls and post beautification.

If these young punks had to do mandatory military service, AMERICA WOULD LOOK MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL AND RESPECT FOR PROPERTY WOULD BE RESTORED.

I was once a slob with cigarette butts. Young and stupid. One time I tossed a butt on the ground and my sergeant yelled at me. "Never do that again! Gimme 50, soldier!"

I was summarily and permanently cured of that bad slob habit forevermore. I'm proud to say I've been smoke-free for 13 years straight now too.

If lung cancer doesn't kill you, Marlboro prices (TAXES) will!
 
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:( I had to deal with this too in life in a number of situations......Very sad to see this type of Vandalism and the cost of associated cleanup.......Which effects more than we might realize!

Maybe someday this part of Society will mature a bit more, and contribute in a positive way, rather than displaying their juvenile knowledge in the art of Painting where it is not wanted or needed..........
 
Just up the street from my house is a brick building that houses some kind of plant equipment. It was regularly sprayed with graffiti and subsequently painted over. But then some bright spark got someone to paint a birdlife mural all over it a few years back. It hasn't been vandalised since. It's also rather beautiful.

I don't like "tags" because they are meaningless except for the vandal that painted it. But I don't mind a well painted mural or even some abstract art on buildings providing permission was given.
 
Why do American roads tolerate it or do they have stiff penalties for this sort of behavior?
If I were a RR owner, I would have zero tolerance for this behavior and prosecute those paint-can-happy
punks to the fullest extent of the law. It's total vandalism and no respect for private property or
American beautification.

Sadly, Superman retired and there is no one fast enough to catch these people.... Come to think of it... Superman probably wouldn't be accepted now days as he'd be accused of not being "tolerant" and "understanding".....
 
$50 fine, and 30 days community service for: Spitting chewing gum on hot sidewalk, or spitting "chew" tobacco just to watch people get it stuck to their shoe soles ... and Not curbing your dawg nor cleaning it up, or bagging it up and dropping the tied up dawg poo bag in the middle of the sidewalk for the homeowner to pick it up and dispose of it ... scratching your initials with a stick in a brand new sidewalk cement pour
 
They do this because they're like feral cats and need to mark their territory.

I think it's disgusting because it's not art and it's destroying other people's property.
 
There are Zero cops in the yard ... How are you going to stop vandals and thieves ... There are plenty of pressing current events that are more important, that will directly affect your life, more than a defaced railcar
 
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In 1980s, the vandals spray-painted whole subway cars as shown in the image at [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/The_New_York_Transit_Authority_in_the_1980s[/FONT]
 
I can now protect my house with video camera's that send an alert to my phone when "flag worthy" movement is detected. Wondering why RR's don't use more camera's in high trespassing areas....
 
RR's are a private corporation, that tries to make a profit moving freight ... they don't have all the money in the world, to spend on hundreds of night vision CCTV cameras, all over a yard that is 5 miles long, and is 36 tracks wide ... most yards are pitch dark, pitch black ... lit up yards make it easy for vandals to see what they are defacing without the use of flashlights
 
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