Yard Safety

[thrashcat]

This is a really good thread. Always better safe than sorry when it comes to graff. At least for me :/

[sacwacko]

fuck i wanna go bomb trains. im only 15 tho :(.

how old are u guys???

[Freddy Mercury]

jesus christ......die.............

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

fuck i wanna go bomb trains. im only 15 tho :(.

how old are u guys???

 

im guessing you just started painting. so i would advise that you practice really hard on paper and just paint cardboard until youve improved your work

but you need to check the rules. asking personal questions is highly discouraged on here.

but you need to really read the first page where Cracked talks about the safety among other things. personally i think you should really do your homework and work on your style before you go and paint. nothing personal, but no one wants to look at someones shitty style with 100 arrows and drips all over the place. so study and work on your style and maybe in a year or year and a half from now you might be ready.

[chaddyboy_20000]

I just wanted to say that I really appreciate this thread! I've always thought it was common sense to treat every car as if it could move at any second, so I really pay attention to what I'm doing, but it's great to hear from people that have been around for a while and really know what's up.

 

I'm not a painter, but I just started flickin freight train graffiti about a year ago. After a worker told me to get out of a freight yard in Topeka, KS, I've been hesitant to go back. However, he was actually pretty nice about it, so I might go back and try it again now that I know that they can be pretty chill about it. Since I'm just a dude walking around with a camera, do you think I'd have any luck talking to some guys at the yard and seeing if they're cool with me being there? It's not a giant yard (about 15-20 tracks wide), but all of the frieghts there make me salivate when I drive by, and I really want to walk around and take some flix.

[Freddy Mercury]

You wont be allowed inside any working yard..Period...If the train master or yard master allowed that to happen- their ass is in the street....Get in if you can, but thats your tresspassing charge, take it with a grain of salt..Be slick, get your flix...

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

it depends on the yard and its amount of activity. some workers will be chill if you stay on the outside lines. but its better just slide in, get your flix, than be out.

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

Our reality today is dawning on a rapid technological change that is affecting all of our lives. Information is becoming more and more accessible through a global communications revolution that gives us access to information at the tips of our fingers, 24 hours a day. When we begin to imagine the possibilities, almost anything goes. As culture embraces technology, we must stand back and take a look around, and realize what is to come. As contemporary Hip-Hop culture and traditional rail culture fuse, a pattern of old tradition remains, and new ones begin. As writing and riding on the rails continues into the next century, technology will play an important role, affecting the writers, hobos, railfans, employees of the railway, and many others.

 

Here's an interesting statistic: There are over 1.6 million freight cars rolling about North America. This includes boxcars, gondolas, hoppers, bulkhead flats, tankers, autoracks, refrigerated cars, and many others that roam over the hundreds of thousands of miles of track. Multiply that by 2 (two sides to every boxcar) and you have 3.2 million panels. In order for a writer to achieve fame on the lines, he or she must hit a multitude of trains. In order to be up on just 1% of the entire roster, a writer would have to hit over 32000 trains. Some of the most prolific writers in North America are attempting to hit as many as humanly or inhumanly possible, day & night, over and over again. Presently the most up graffiti writers on the lines are averaging under 600 burners on trains, which is a lot of time, risk, dedication, and paint fumes. When William "Upski" Wismat wrote about all the trains being hit by next summer, I think I said...dream on brother.

 

One hobo by the name of Herby had his name and drawings on more than 70,000 cars. With over 1.6 million cars x2, it seems unlikely to be seen on a regular basis, but there are ways to improve the chances of being seen. One way (Besides hopping a freight with a bag full of streaks and paint) is to be selective about which type of care you choose to paint. There are well over 2,200 different initials assigned to these trains, so choose well. The first criteria for trains are whether they are short lines (local line usually only traveling under a few hundred miles). There's a unique practicality in hitting a short line as you will be seen over and over again. A good strategy for being seen on the regular would be to you travel to different parts of the continent and hit shortlines. That way, your pieces or monikers stay in a particular area. Mostly every train yard has trains that come back on regular occasions. These are usually woodchip cars, rock carrier gondolas, and pulp related lines, as well as some chemical cars, depending on the local businesses serviced by the railway. Knowing which cars are bound to stick around, and which ones are not can improve your chances of being seeing more often.

 

There is a rule that assigns specific initials to certain regions of North America that will always, after long travels, eventually have to go back to their home regions. Some initials are so abundant that it is hard to tell where they are from or destined for. This is where the second part comes in. In an initial that is commonly used like BN or UP, a different method is used. There are thousands of cars marked simply BN, but how many of them start with he same three numbers? Usually only several hundred or more. For example tjere are series of cars used for the same purpose. CP 203111, CP 203222 and 203333 are usually headed for the same place, leased from the same company. Paying attention to the numbers in a fleet can help you know what is what. By using the Automated Shipment Location Systems provided by the railways, writers can study the patterns of these cars, and even particular series of cars, to determine what cars are going where. This would involved hitting several of the same type and series, and comparing the trace data, and waybill record. This does not give a total knowledge of the destinations, but it can help you understand what is happening in the complex world of moving freight.

 

Knowing the commodity and priority of the freight can also be useful. Intermodal trains (Twin stacks or Piggybacks), and Autotracks (Holy-Rollers) have more priority than boxcars and gondolas. These trains will make more trips, more often. By being selective, and by choosing a diverse number of initials, it is possible to archive more exposure at great distances. A burner from Alaska could be spotted in Mexico and come back with another burner on the other side. If someone from Kansas City hits a Canadian wheat train, it will eventually come back to Canada, and maybe never return to Kansas City at all. Flat boxcars may not always be the jewel in the yard. It's all in the initials and series, not the dimensions of the car.

 

There is also another way to determine a car's general destination. Take a car like RBOX. They own 12,997 cars. They do not have any track or locomotive equipment at all. They are a company that leases a fleet of railcars out to different railroads, like Conrail or CN. There are many companies that do this. One way to tell a company like this is if the last initial of the car is X. This indicates that the car is not owned by a railway. but rather a private company. This is almost always an assurance that eventually that car will leave and never come back. Sometimes this happens with entire fleets. For example an entire fleet of Canpotex hoppers (ex Santa Fe hoppers) were being used in the 80's down in Texas, but were eventually moved as a fleet to move potash in Canada. The graffiti markings form the 80's were still there, along with the newer Canadian markings when the fleet was eventually moved somewhere else years later.

 

Another method to figure out a railcar's movements are smaller RR markings on the car. Near the load limit stencils is sometimes another little stencil that tells us whom the car is leased by. Other times it may be stenciled in the top left corner, above the ladder. I hit a DWC (Duluth Winnipeg and Pacific), which is owned by Canadian National, but leased from the International Bank of Miami. A week and a half after marking it, I traced it to Florida.

 

In the world of freight riding, technology also plays an important role. To tell which direction a train is heading out of a yard, a rider finds where the FRED (Flashing Rear End Device) is located. This tells us which end is the rear of the train, and thus which general direction it is headed. The Automated Shipment Location Systems can also help us to know the destinations of a particular car or fleet of cars, with estimated time of arrivals and scheduled interchanges. This method could also help to determine a particular car's final destination.

 

What we are trying to accomplish is so extraordinary. We, the writers, hobos and railworkers, are contributing to the largest art gallery in the world, which is constantly moving around, almost randomly and chaotically. In that uncertain randomness, in that chaos of probabilities, we thrive for a taste of sychronicity and the bliss of seeing a marked freight roll by. We live to hear about someone seeing our designs somewhere in another far off place. It leaves us with such wonder and amazement; our souls traveling everywhere...

 

Take5

 

Body Soul Mind

Burning America

[Cracked Ass]

I'm now up on 0.125% of the fleet.

[a blind society]

Its hard to hear the unit coming because the sound comes from the sides and not from the front. Much like the sound from ambulance it louder after it passes you. once again be safe!

[Rustofills]

0.002%

[bomb_the_system]

my yards use to do humping but they dont any more, so they use it for storing freight cars only so would there be a bull there?

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

your yard isnt being staled. just dont paint it.

[poison pit]

Yea man igot rolled up on by the up cops they chased us on the free way for a minute until we had to stop or some big shit would of happened. They proboably would of just took us to jail without any questions.those cops scare me......ha

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

^wtf are you talking about man?

[poison pit]

what the fuck do you think im talking about?

[.hopeless.]

glad to see this thread started again, this is all essential info. Just to add to what cracked has said, dont underestimate the danger of humping. Humping doesnt just occur in large yards, I've watched crews hump cars (through a controlled crossing no less) at a small lay-up at WAY more than 5mph. And this was a lay-up small enough that neighbourhood residents would wander through walking their dogs, it can occur anywhere, so keep alert.

For those of you not familiar with yards, if you have the chance the best thing to do is just watch what happens in the yard, find a chill place (on the legal side of the private property line) and see how things work. Thanks for posting the info again cracked.

 

------------------

ESE - Nothingbutfreights

 

word.i had never seen that happen until i went to north carolina.it wasnt a yard at all but just a spot on the track and as i was walking by i heard this loud bang and all of the sudden like 4 or 5 cars go flying maybe 30 or 40 feet down the track and i had just crossed over it...be very very careful around them when the track is active like that.it scared the shit out of me and if i was on it at the time it happened id probably have died.

[rice eyes]

damn....

I hate seeing those things

that homeless guy is funny as hell though

 

/dontseekshadeunderfreightsoner

[Samuse]

Yeah it takes a yard sale to bring me out LOl

 

although I could come and go and you not even know it..

 

I did Julie that way last week LOL

[SpyVsSpy]

Maybe this is answered somewhere else in the forum, but I couldn't find it.

 

I'm wondering about the security measures on the New York subway system. How common are the motion sensors on the tracks? Can you know if you've set them off? And where does the alarm go off, at the police station, at FBI's or at some kind of security company?

[Rustofills]

Maybe this is answered somewhere else in the forum, but I couldn't find it.

 

I'm wondering about the security measures on the New York subway system. How common are the motion sensors on the tracks? Can you know if you've set them off? And where does the alarm go off, at the police station, at FBI's or at some kind of security company?

 

My guess is if you trip one your not going to know it and im pretty sure that when one is triped the MTA police are alerted.

[.hopeless.]

and with 9/11 and all the hysteria they'll be on your ass with a quickness.

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

yeah MTA seems to up there up their security every few months.. so look out. and get someone that has a bit of experience in the tunnels to take you the first few times you go.

[Sars.Saw.Chicago]

ive never found out where any of my hoppers went. i seen one roll back about 3 or 4 weeks after i painted it. no luck on any other ones

[Sars.Saw.Chicago]

This was a PM from SpyVsSpy

 

 

subways in new york - Today, 12:01 PM

Hi,

I just read your answer on the Yard safety tread.

 

I actually joined this forum to come in contact with subway painters. I study documentary film making in New York and have a graffiti background from Norway. I want to come in contact with subway painters because I want to make a movie about New York being the number one graffiti tourist attraction of the world, in the sense that people are come there to try and paint the subway, because of the difficulties and the history.

 

It seemed you had some experience with the subway system, and if you live in NYC I would really like to talk with about the film, the MTA and how I should come in contact with the right people.

 

Also have general graffiti questions about good spots an such.

 

By the way I just want to talk, you're not signing up for anything by answering this message.

 

Hope to hear from you soon.

 

Thanks,

Jon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sounds like the FIN to me!!!

[bub-ole]

well jon, i believe you need to go back to kate and your 8 children. you already bought a motorcycle and got your ear pierced at the age of 32. its too late to start being a writer.

[Edward Orenthal Norton]

lol^

[asd80049]

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[asd80049]

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