This website has been archived from TrainWeb.org/railsintoronto to TrainWeb.US/railsintoronto.
A gallery of railcar tags and artwork
Anyone who has watched a freight train on this continent in the last decade knows: the taggers have taken over.
Tagging freight cars is the illegal and dangerous pursuit of some large number of people who spend their time and energy leaving uninvited words and images on railway equipment.
Railcar graffitti is everywhere. It's a huge problem for the railways. There are mixed views on its value as a social medium. It's a dangerous and legally risky way to spend one's time.
Nevertheless, when so many authentic and individualistic bits of expression roll past with each passing train, one can't help but stop and take notice.
What drives the creative process -and it is creative- behind this stuff? Where do they find the time and energy to do this? How do they plan and execute each piece?
How do they make something that big, and not get caught?
This site is a collection of images that I have seen and captured while watching trains pass. For better or worse, someone has laboured to paint it all. It is somebody's attempt at social intercourse, and they have made it our landscape. Every bit of it was offered to us free of charge. Explore it. Ponder. Enjoy.
The Graffitti Gallery
The Basics - Tags and Psychedelic Coleslaw
Think Big - Creative types who see the railcar, not the trees
My Heart is True - uplifting statements of faith and love
Dark Visions from Tortured Souls
The F Word, and other filth (warning - adult material)
There's one born every minute (My theory on "why they do it")
DISCLAIMER (and rant)
In a legal sense, creating grafitti is vandalism. Railroad equipment is someone else's property. Railroad yards and rights of way are private land; anyone entering without permission is trespassing. At least 99% of the grafitti that appears on today's trains was put there illegally.
By covering up the cars' reporting marks and other information, graffitti creates a nuisance for railroads and costs them money.
Most importantly, entering railway yards - which are industrial zones with plenty of hazards - and tagging railcars is dangerous.
The author of this site does not condone or advocate trespassing or vandalism. The fact that I am maintaining this web site should not be interpreted as an encouragement to create graffitti or a defense of those who have done so. I am simply trying to share my fascination with what I observe with you.
All that aside, if this web site is getting you in a moral lather, don't bother emailing me about it. You need a life.
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Copyright © 1996, 2005 Paul Cordingley
Revised - July 3, 2005
url:http://www.trainweb.us/railsintoronto/grafindx.html
