From 2023 through just last month, I shared my favorite pieces of graffiti I spotted when I worked at a place that received most of its material by rail. That chapter recently came to a close- and with it, the series itself. Flipping back through those photos reminded me just how much fun the hunt had been, though, so I couldn’t quite let it end there. Here’s one last look back at the standouts in a retrospective send-off for a series I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to.
I went back and tried to rank my ten favorite posts from 2023, 2024, and 2025. The exercise tied me in knots! It turned out that picking my favorites was harder than writing about them. Rather than force an impossible list, here are the tags I keep coming back to, in no particular order.
“KOET?” “KOER?”
I can’t tell what this railcar says. “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.
YOVO SAiGhTS 2023
I’m pretty sure my translation of the middle lettering is wrong, but the car I’m calling YOVO SAiGhTS was another early one I featured in my first railcar spotting post. I’ve been on the lookout for cartoon cars ever since a friend told me about one that came in last year that featured Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents. The trio of skulls isn’t from any Nickelodeon show, but they captured my attention anyway.
BRENT
This tag was a tribute to Brent. Of all the “character” cars I’ve seen, this one seems to have the most! Godspeed Brent, and well met. I’m not sure where you’re from, but we certainly knew you in Anderson. The car that was tagged in your honor has rocketed close to the top of my favorites- you even look like a guy I worked with!
SHOME
The SHOME car was parked behind a gate that covered its best feature -the face- from my usual angles. I used my iPhone 12’s ultrawide camera inside the fence to get this unobscured shot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t zoom out enough to capture the rest of the piece, which extended out of frame on both sides.
Castaway
Remember the movie Castaway? This car features Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland, the stranded FedEx employee who befriends a volleyball on a desert isle. In the graffiti, the disheveled Nolan is desperately calling out for Wilson in the middle of the ocean after a storm blew him away.
KNOW
The KNOW car quickly vaulted itself near the top of my favorites. The boney lettering’s transition from plum to white would have been enough to land somewhere on the list on its own, but the characters-a gaucho-wearing skull and some kind of inebriated rodent- turned the car up to the max. I wish every railcar we got had this much personality.
Real Monsters
This car was one that took 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 the main characters Oblina, Krumm, and Ickis was a great surprise.
Inscrutable landscape
In some ways, this was the most striking piece I’ve ever seen! Two enigmatic figures silently patrol the ancient walls astride majestic horses. Away from the shadow of their watchful gaze, a hidden figure adds graffiti to a corner wall. Someone else strains to hoist a bucket to the peak of a towering building shaped like the letter Z. Just what was going on? I got the impression that it isn’t for us to know.
Snowman vandal
Snowmen traditionally feature carrot noses, coal eyes, and a corncob pipe, but the spray can -a modern tool of urban expression- is a unique addition to Frosty’s grip. I’ve never graffitied anything more than a triscuit, but I love it. The snowman on this car instantly took ownership of my top-five! The best graffiti I’ve found during this series has transformed my everyday surroundings into extraordinary works of art. This car certainly did.
Pink Panther
I couldn’t make out what this railcar said, but there was definitely a Pink Panther there, along with a couple of other cartoons that have faded beyond recognition.
I’m a little sad that my railcar spotting came to an end. For a while there, it became a reliable source of joy- something to notice, document, and look forward to in the middle of ordinary days. It was fun while it lasted, though. Even though the cars have rolled on, I’m glad I took the time to pay attention while they were here.
I find the art on railcars to be fascinating. Any idea how it’s done w/o being caught?
I’ve been told that budget cuts have severely curtailed the amount of security present at many yards.
I have mixed emotions about all this. Disclaimer: At 66 years old, I realize that I have entered what I call “the curmudgeon zone”.
While I definitely respect the talent that goes into creating these murals and I do find them interesting, on the flip side I realize that technically, this is illegal. And I suspect he rail companies and/or owners of the railcars are not enamored of it.
This presents a conundrum to me.
It’s very conundrumy! I’m unaware that any of them were ever tagged at our railyard (certainly not by me, at least), but I liked admiring them as I walked back to my office.
For what it’s worth, I brought up the conundrum you describe to a rail industry veteran friend. He said that the railroads grudgingly tolerate them so long as they don’t cover up any important information painted on the car. I’ve seen blocks of big murals repainted around that stuff, so I reckon its true.
Of course, that doesn’t make any of it less illegal, with the trespassing and vandalism.
Good luck and best wishes on your next work move!
There’s something to be said about these small moments of joy at mid-to-bad work experiences. They’re not enough to keep you at a job, but do make it a bit more tolerable.
As for graffiti, if the train companies really wanted to stop it, they’d hire more people. But with all the mergers, branch line abandonments, and reduction of workforce, that ain’t going to happen any time soon. To illustrate this, I saw a video the other day from the 1950s when a mile freight train was considered long, and each train had five crewpeople. Now we have trains beyond a mile with two crew (and if railroads had their way it would be only one crewperson.) It’s all about “maximum return” on investment to shareholders, safety and security be damned.
Thanks man. The tags I found definitely made my gig more tolerable! And you’re absolutely right about the rail companies. They grudgingly put up with it.
That landscape car is captivating! This series has made me look at graffiti on train cars wherever I may encounter them, and then I wonder what your interpretation of the artwork might be.
It wasn’t as bold as many of the other cars I found, but that landscape car was probably my favorite of all time.
I like looking for tags as the trains go by, but nothing beat examining the ones in captivity.