Read time: 4 min.

You wouldn’t guess it from all the cars in the yard, but July’s been a slow month for graffiti. Not a lot of standout pieces rolled through, but a few tags managed to break through the monotony. At any rate, welcome to the twenty-fourth monthly edition of railcar spotting!

If you’re new to railcar spotting, here’s the deal: I work at a plastics factory that receives most of its material by rail. Every month, I go out to the yard and share the best graffiti I find. This month didn’t present a great opportunity to venture into the railyard proper, so I stuck close to the office and shot everything from behind the chain-link fence along track three. Still, a few gems managed to show their colors like this “SHAG” car. I was sure I’d seen it before, but a quick search of my archives proved it was a first-time arrival.

This big capital “R” rendered in near-negative space was another highlight, but so were the comments written around it in pink, maybe by someone named WOLVE. “LOVE U!” says one! I haven’t seen such romantic sentiment present since May. Who or what “R” signifies is one lucky feller.

It would have been perfect if this “JUNE” tag had shown up last month. Unfortunately, it was a little late. Right above it is a spotty “$20,000” tag that immediately rang a bell. It reminded me of a massive, car-length piece I spotted back in November 2023. It’s always fun when similar tags roll through the yard.

I really wish I knew someone named Joyce since this tag might have made her day. That said, this faded piece still managed to shout her name in bold, looping letters. There’s something strange and personal about seeing a name like that scrawled across a freight car. Whoever painted it clearly wanted Joyce to be remembered, even if the rest of us never get to know who she was.

The rest of July’s haul didn’t offer much to write home about, but one piece stood out from the crowd and easily became my favorite of the month: a full car-length tag that ended with a cheerful crayon. Rendered in bold black and soft seafoam green, the grinning piece stopped me in my tracks. I had to get a close-up shot since a picture of the full car wouldn’t have given the crayon its due.

About a week after snapping my first batch of photos, I made my way back out to the railyard to see if anything new had rolled through. Sure enough, waiting for me behind the fence was a jaw-droppingly colorful, multi-tagged car that stole the show. Layered in vivid reds, blues, greens, and yellows, it looked like four or five different artists had each taken a turn making their mark.

Here’s some of the rest of the Crayon piece. I have no clue what it said or signified, but it sure provided some color to our railyard. Even in a slower month like this one, moments like that remind me why I keep doing this. You never know when a burst of creativity will roll through to turn an ordinary workday into something worth capturing. For now, here’s to August! I’m excited to see what tags, surprises, and stories the next trains might bring.