This has been a slow month for new graffiti. The first day of May brought every car I expected to receive but two, so I checked out the yard that afternoon. That initial haul added eight new tags to my increasing collection of photos; enough to welcome you back to another edition of railcar spotting.
I work at a factory that makes plastic pellets that get melted and molded into car parts and home appliances. An enormous amount of our materials arrive by rail, which means I see a lot of graffiti. I take photos of the best as I walk back to my office. Increasingly, I’ve even been seeking it out via monthly trips into the yard itself.
Including my retrospective of 2023, this is my tenth installment of railcar spotting. I’ve shared pictures of eighty-one tags so far. I’ve never added to the collection myself, but I’ve been tempted. Fortunately, I don’t know where to begin! I drew a lot as a kid and even illustrated a children’s book a couple years ago, but I can’t hold a candle to the artists who tag the cars we receive. Some of their pieces are mesmerizing!
As an occasional pencil slinger, I think graffiti exists on a spectrum ranging from pure vandalism to legitimate street art. I don’t have the scholarly background to judge the pieces I feature, but there’s no question that I enjoy them.
Sometimes, a railcar’s patina has as much of an impact on the car’s appearance as the tag itself. Our unloading equipment meant I couldn’t fit this entire car into a single frame, but the rust and faded paint of this “EKSRT” tag is a testament to this car’s history. For what it’s worth, this is the second EKSRT piece I’ve come across in our yard. The first arrived back in October.
Sometimes, an off-the-cuff sketch like this simple cat demon thing connects with me more than a big, planned-out piece. Deadpan comedian Steven Wright advised his fans to “plan to be spontaneous tomorrow,” but Australian author Germaine Greer wrote that “the essence of pleasure is spontaneity.” I think she’s onto something! Maybe that’s why I liked this no-frills tag so much.
My meat-and-potatoes nature probably has something to do with it as well. I’m the weirdo who prefers asparagus to grapefruit, but the combination of orange, pink, and green in the next car I encountered reminds me of some good, old-fashioned Florida citrus. The colors and highlights infused its neck of the woods with some energy and excitement.
Sometimes, interpreting intricate graffiti is like deciphering cryptic code. Taggers often blend intricate designs and abstract shapes to create pieces that are equal parts captivating and challenging to interpret. That dichotomy is alive and well in this car! Creepy Cheshire Cat faces leer at onlookers from various shades of chaotic purple and green.
This blue-and-gold tag is the second half of the car that featured the previous one. The shading and colors of this piece add such dimension to the angular lettering that it almost appears to be stonework popping out of the metal! I’m glad it wasn’t- each car holds nearly 200,000 lbs. of material we desperately need for production.
The second-to-last car showed up on Friday, May 3. I was hard at work analyzing our safety stock coverage when I heard the telltale rumble of a locomotive backing into our yard. I headed out to get a look. More than the rest of the pieces I’ve shared, this image represents my typical view of cars obscured by a chain-link fence. CSX left the gate open as they shuffled stock and brought in this new one.
The final car came in on the fifteenth. Remember this one? Full of prime resin, this SiKER car first showed up at work in March! I couldn’t fit the whole car in the image two months ago, but the rightmost tag features the name of a French street artist credited with introducing graffiti into the city of Montreal. It’s only the second repeat I’ve encountered in a year of spotting cars.
May didn’t bring any all-timers to the railyard, but the limited number of cars we received was fruitful nonetheless. Some represented the return of EKSRT and SiKER. One reminded me of oranges, another gave me a cat demon to chuckle at, and yet another seemed to provide a purplish glimpse into a spiraling circle of hell! That’s all good in my book, and I can’t wait to see what June brings to the collection as railcar spotting continues.
These days occasionally find me waiting for trains to pass on a route I often drive. I think of you when I see the graffiti on many of the cars. I should try to capture some of them with my camera.
You’ll never know what kind of weird art you’ll find! I’m glad a new set shows up every month. I never really cared beforehand.