What Brought Up the Topic of Freight Train Graffiti?
I live a few blocks from train tracks that have been here since this area outside of Houston was mostly rural and not gentrified suburban. Yes, you can still find an old-time ice house a few blocks away from a Whole Foods. I don't mind the occasional train whistle or horn or even the earth-shattering rumble of the tracks. I barely notice inside my house, but when I'm outside, I admit that the sound can get distracting.
Still, the sound of trains has always reminded me of travel, adventure, and maybe even romance. Of course, these worn freight trains hardly look romantic or adventurous. So, this morning I got stuck at the tracks while I was driving home from a pleasant breakfast with my friends and found the obstruction annoying at first.
The only time I mind trains is when I get stuck like this. See, the old street near my house curves, so even when the gate rises to let me cross the tracks one time, I still have to go around a curve and usually wait again. Still, this time I enjoyed a treat.
The train carried a virtual modern art museum of freight train graffiti on its many cars. Sadly, I didn't think to pull my cell out to snap a shot until the train had nearly vanished, so the shot below is the only one I got and hardly the very best of the lot.
A Shot From the Tracks
Source: My phone camera in the car
What Does This Freight Train Graffiti Mean?
Inspired, I hit Google as soon as I got home. I just had to understand what all of these scrawled letters and images could possibly mean. Were they messages from the underground or even the Mother Ship?
Well, I love a good conspiracy as much as the next Steemit blogger. Still, here are the "facts" I learned about train graffiti:
Train Graffiti Apparently Originated in NYC
Source: Pixabay
The dusty train tracks in the picture are a long way from NYC, but apparently, the movement to paint trains started in NYC with subways. What's clear today from my research is that the movement moved on to freight trains. Really, spread just like the moving trains as they rumbled around the country, the activity of train writing also spread all over the place.
I found articles about it from papers in Minneapolis, Dallas, and many other large and small cities. As the NYC artists watched their rolling canvases move away, I wonder if they knew that they were actually sending inspiration all over the country.
It's Illegal But Mostly Tolerated Because Graffiti Artists Are Polite
Once in awhile, I found articles from the kinds of authorities who post such things about the fact that defacing trains is illegal. It often requires trespassing onto train years, which could be dangerous. Still, the graffiti artists are polite in their vandalism.
The artists appear to know that they shouldn't cover up any of the official lettering or marking on the trains. So even though the activity is strictly prohibited, it's not like anybody has gone to war over the whole thing. Apparently, so long as the art doesn't get the RR industry in trouble with the government or their customers, they have accepted their decorations.
Trains Are Deeply Embedded in American Culture
Even those of us in the Southwest and South who don't regularly ride trains have our notions about them. They remind us of old Westerns and hobos during the Great Depression. They remind us of travel to faraway cities and winning the West. Meanwhile, the lettering on most of the freight train graffiti is more likely to remind of us the Psychedelic 60s. When we see these painted trains, it's like were seeing a roving art and history museum all meant to entertain us as we're stuck at the RR crossing.
What Other Unique American Art Captures Your Imagination?
I guess I like freight train graffiti so much because it reminds me of the city sending a message to the country and then having the country send it back again. Is there anything you'd like to add?
I almost always vote on AND reply to relevant comments.
I live north of America and I don't usually see trains, but when I do I don't see graffiti. Interesting that there are graffiti on American trains.
You live in True North? Yes, it appears to be an American thing, but it's surprising it wouldn't spread across the border. Perhaps you guys police your train yards better. Maybe your artists don't feel like they need to risk arrest or some danger to express themselves. The artists do take some risks.
Yup, True North! Yea, I think your right that artists don't feel like they need to risk arrest.
Oh, that's a good topic. I've wondered about the meaning behind all sorts of graffiti too. Since we don't see so much out here, it's nice to get -- as you put it -- a rolling museum! I think this deserves @originalworks
Thanks, trying to decipher it passes the time when I'm stuck at the RR crossing with a very long train.
I actually don't really hate them some times. I have seen people who do it on trains but leave the windows/number plates clean so the train looks awesome yet it doesn't make it a hasstle if you want to see its number or outside the window.
I don't hate it either. I think it's sort of cool that the artwork moves around the country and inspires others to do the same. Just so they leave the official markings clear and don't risk danger, it seems sort of cool to me.
I actually never wondered this until I saw your headline - then I wondered why I hadn't! Thanks for teaching me something new today, it was an enjoyable article!
Thanks for stopping by! Next time you get stuck by a train, you'll have something to look for.
A friend of mine and I "tagged" a train in Dallas a few years ago...
Btw... I'm a horrible artist..
Thanks so much for contributing this! So please explain. Did you just do it to express yourself, for fun, for an act of rebellion? I mean, you took a risk, and I think it's very cool - but tell me what you were thinking, please!
The friend in the picture is a habitual tagger.. she keeps spray paint in her car at all times.. we were in Dallas for work and she had promised her brother Reese she would tag something for him and send him a picture. Hence why we were there.. but it looked fun so I decided to try it... gotta live up to my saying.. "pics or it didn't happen.."
Only one self taken graffiti photo... Man :(
Perhaps you are interested in funding a grant that will allow me to travel around the country (on trains, of course), eat in colorful local diners, interview local train aficionados and punk artists, and photograph train graffiti. We need to get to the bottom of this.
Nope, I'm not interested :p
someone after my own heart. I've photographed freight train graff for years, check out helen bird art on flickr, you may have to dig around coz I have 10,000 pix uploaded. mostly travel, art, street art & graff. awesome blog you have :)
Thanks, sadly I have to do day job stuff right now. But I'm going to look. If you make a post, let me know by commenting back here or something, and I'll be happy to try to help spread it as much as I can. Thanks for stopping by.
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