MARC's Graffiti Problem

Once in a while--about every year or so-- I'll see a MARC car sprayed with graffiti, but in general MARC does pretty well in protecting their equipment, especially compared to other Northeast railroads, in particular those in the NYC area. Trust me, nothing looks uglier than a car sprayed with graffiti--everytime I see one I cringe.

Last week I saw two single level cars in a 4 car set sprayed with graffiti. This morning I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw two more single levels in another trainset sprayed with graffiti. The shocking thing is that it likely happened in Brunswick, MD (the second set was one of two composed mostly of gallery cars on the Brunswick Line), and not Baltimore or DC. Come to think of it I've never seen a K-car bilevel sprayed, except for a small tag I saw once, but it's nearly always single level or gallery cars, suggesting that it always happens out there in Brunswick yard. MARC definitely needs to fence up the yard and protect their equipment from vandals. The good news is that MARC is very good at removing spray paint; it's nearly impossible to tell which cars have been previously vandalized.

realtype wrote:Once in a while--about every year or so-- I'll see a MARC car sprayed with graffiti, but in general MARC does pretty well in protecting their equipment, especially compared to other Northeast railroads, in particular those in the NYC area. Trust me, nothing looks uglier than a car sprayed with graffiti--everytime I see one I cringe.

It's been a long time since I've seen more than a brief spot of graffiti on any commuter train in the NYC area. They've gotten really good about removing anything that does show up so quickly that people just gave up on tagging them.

Several years ago VRE's railcars - the Kawaski's and others had been graffied - perphaps a halloween prank, since in happened halloween weekend. Since, then VRE has tighten security at it's railyards as their has been no graffiti since.The yards are fenced in and well lighted.

oknazevad wrote:

realtype wrote:Once in a while--about every year or so-- I'll see a MARC car sprayed with graffiti, but in general MARC does pretty well in protecting their equipment, especially compared to other Northeast railroads, in particular those in the NYC area. Trust me, nothing looks uglier than a car sprayed with graffiti--everytime I see one I cringe.

It's been a long time since I've seen more than a brief spot of graffiti on any commuter train in the NYC area. They've gotten really good about removing anything that does show up so quickly that people just gave up on tagging them.

I have got a few cars on the coastline that were tagged. I have never seen any MARC cars tagged. I agree a car thats tagged up looks terrible.

Septa had some bomber cars tagged recently, but they did a half-assed job removing it...you can easily tell which ones they were. But is the only occasion I can think of where I've seen any train that wasn't a NYC subway in the 70's or early 80's.

cpontani wrote:Septa had some bomber cars tagged recently, but they did a half-assed job removing it...you can easily tell which ones they were. But is the only occasion I can think of where I've seen any train that wasn't a NYC subway in the 70's or early 80's.

One thing I have to say is that MARC (or Amtrak) does do an excellent job of removing tags. It's as if they simply waehed it off. Unless the "artists" got the paint stripe, which they usually barely do, it's impossible to tell which cars been tagged unless your standing right beside the car and looking for it. I also noticed the defaced cars I saw last week were immediately removed from the trainsets.

Since the SEPTA cars are fully painted (as are the MNR, NJT, and MBTA Comets and Amtrak Horizons are), it would probably be harder to remove the grafitti, than it would for the MARC cars, which are mostly unpainted, except for the orange and blue stripes. Although I think I saw one of MARC's crappy gallery cars tagged once (the graffiti looks more at home on them anyway ), I probably couldn't point out which one it was now. Graffiti on commuter rail equipment does seem to be a rare problem nationwide though, but the structures near the ROW continue to be magnets for taggers....

realtype, we've had our own grafitti issues uphere in Boston with the MBTA. We had some of our own Duplex and a few single-level units get tagged but no locomotives tagged yet, however on one duplex, it left a permanent mark, they did eradicated it, but a trace can still be seen of the tagging. I hope they do something about it, and it has also happened on our subway division with the MBTA Orange & Red Line, which some cars were tagged

realtype wrote:

cpontani wrote:Septa had some bomber cars tagged recently, but they did a half-assed job removing it...you can easily tell which ones they were. But is the only occasion I can think of where I've seen any train that wasn't a NYC subway in the 70's or early 80's.

Since the SEPTA cars are fully painted

Only the Bombardier push/pulls are painted. The Silverliners (EMU's) are stainless steel.