The rail yard at work sits just eighty feet from my office, but I couldn’t bring myself to walk outside and take a single photo of any cool new tags for most of the month. It’s not like the opportunity wasn’t there, but I’ve been dealing with some things lately. I finally made myself step outside the other day, but there wasn’t much to catch my eye. Still, sometimes showing up is half the victory.
Welcome to another installment of railcar spotting. If you’re new here, let me tell you what this is: I’m the production planner at a plastics factory. Of my company’s thirteen plants, we’re the only one that gets materials delivered by rail. Every now and then, the cars show up with a little extra flair. I take pictures of my favorites, and although I have no idea what this one says, here it is.
I can’t tell what this one says either. “KOET?” “KOER?”For all I know, it might say “skibidi toilet rizz” like Gen Z says these days. Thankfully, I’m not here to decode or translate what I spy to appeal to the kids. I just enjoy documenting the pieces that catch my eye. This one, with its striking yellow skull, might make my top ten list at the end of the year.
The greens and browns of this “CYBER” tag remind me of old-school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures my brother and I used to pick up for three bucks at Big Lots after a long day of loading rotten apples into buckets. The tag was part of a larger, car-wide piece that included the previous one I shared, but I couldn’t back up far enough to fit it into one frame.
My favorite tag from May was a simple, heartfelt scrawl that stopped me in my tracks: “FROM NolA To LONDON I Will AlWAYS LoVe YoU.” Just nine words, written in quick strokes, but the sentiment hit me. It’s hard not to wonder about the story behind it. Was it a farewell? A long-distance love? A personal pilgrimage traced in steel and spray paint? We’ll probably never know.
I haven’t dug too deeply into the logistics, but I’m fairly certain no American railcar has ever made the trip across the Atlantic from New Orleans to London. Maybe the writer knew that. Maybe that’s the point. As many of us know, love doesn’t always follow the tracks. At any rate, I’m excited to see what shows up next month. I hope to feel better by then.
