I’d never been close to graffiti until I started working at a plastics factory that receives material by rail. Early on, I decided take pictures of the pieces I liked. I’ve kept it up and shared my favorites every month, so welcome to railcar spotting for April, 2024! It’s hard to believe, but this is my ninth installment.
First up is a breaking bulletin. In a historic moment, it appears that this rail car has been adorned with its first graffiti, marking a significant departure from its pristine appearance. The incident stunned onlookers and authorities alike. The identity of the graffiti artist remains unknown, but speculation about potential motives is rampant. Authorities are investigating the matter.
Unfortunately, I don’t expect any official updates on that additional graffiti. Until lately, we’ve never received the same car twice! Despite that, it’s been a lot of fun to share my favorite pieces. Some, like the one above, are stunning works of modern art with crisp contrast, smooth gradients, and decisive lines. It’s hard to believe it came from a spray can.
Others, like this upside-down FORGE car, speak to me for different reasons. Most of my admiration stems from each artist’s vision. Taggers know their work will be seen around the country, and our yard is the perfect place for a gallery. Our spurs connect to the old Big Four Michigan Branch that runs from Louisville to Goshen. Other tracks connect to it from more distant locales. From what I’ve seen, FORGE may have originated in Seattle.
Cars come to my plant from CSX facilities in Anderson and Avon, but they originate from all over North America. Our facility holds about sixty railcars, but our unloading system doesn’t reach the most distant stretches. Engineers have to perform an intricate dance to position the railcars so we can empty them out! The easiest place to unload is partially obscured by a chain-link fence.
Exploring unobstructed views of the yard involves channeling an inner ninja. Personally, I start by somersaulting under the first row of cars. Then, I like to think I scale an enormous labyrinth of complicated tubes and pipes. In reality, I duck under a railcar and walk around the unloading equipment. Nevertheless, I thought I’d reduced that simple act to a science! Apparently, I was wrong. At some point, my wallet went missing.
Back in the office, I rose from my chair to go to lunch when that sinking feeling we all know hit me like an anvil. Three pocket pat-downs left me empty handed, so I raced back out to the yard and re-ninjaed my way through the obstacle course. I searched every nook and cranny, but my wallet was nowhere to be found.
Our rail yard measures 200,000 square feet. I walked most of it, but frustration got the better of me after a couple miles of searching. Perhaps my wallet blew off the track onto a neighboring property, I reasoned. Maybe it found its way into the hands of a Good Samaritan who was eager to return it! I suspected the former; indeed, it was missing from my desk by the time I got back.
My missing wallet gnawed at me. I use my phone to pay for everything, but my license and other important items were still in there. I got through a couple meetings with minimal fuss, but nagging worry came back once it was time to head home: the usual route I’d driven 40,000 times seemed saturated with cops!
I drove carefully and made it home without any issues. Thankfully, the weight lifted shortly after I pulled into my driveway. In a blur of frantic movements, I found the pants I’d worn the previous day in my washing machine and grabbed them to find a familiar bulge nestled inside the back pocket. I hadn’t lost my wallet after all; I’d just forgotten it. What a rush of relief!
I’d had enough excitement for the month, but a new shipment of cars called me back out to the railyard a couple weeks later. I locked my wallet in a desk drawer just to be safe and headed out to our second spur. There, I found a car with an Italian flag! There’s a story there, but suffice it to say for now that this car is the only one I’ve seen return to our facility.
A while back, friend and commenter JP Cavanaugh mentioned that he has “an almost complete inability to decipher the lettering in modern graffiti.” Unfortunately, I’m in the same boat. My best guess is that this piece says, “but it’s clear that the second portion says “WRUS.” The striking shades of blue caught my attention more than the actual characters did.
Speaking of characters, I found the best of what I’ve come to call “character cars” on my second trip to the yard this month. Our railcars transport all kinds of resins and minerals, but this was the first one to take me straight back to childhood. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters was Nickelodeon’s fifth original cartoon series when it debuted on October 29, 1994. I saw a rerun of the debut at my grandparents‘ house the very next day! This tribute to main characters Oblina, Krumm, and Ickis was a great surprise as I wrapped up my walk.
I’ve now shared seventy-three pieces of railcar graffiti since I started last September. 2024 has brought a great slate of tags to the yard so far, and I already know I’ll struggle to whittle the list down to my ten favorites in December. That’s a good problem to have! In the meantime, here’s hoping that the rest of the year continues to bring more intriguing art and less panic over a missing wallet.
I got so wrapped up in the wallet story that I forgot to look at the pictures and had to go back!
And I would have missed the Real Monsters tie-in. I think I aged out of that sort of thing after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My nephew watched it, and I thought my sister was kidding me when she told me the show’s name.