At this spot there were some pieces by Kwiz and friends. Under the overpass in the raw concrete, there were outlines of crew members on the wall with the words, “47347- in. – Bong Squad – ’94”, “Midnight Marauders”. The outlines are still visible today, even after their other pieces nearby were demolished several years ago. (I will post more about those pieces later.) Several years ago someone did a fill-in on the bottom corner of the wall, and Choke did an outline over the whole panel, probably in the dark, with no diss intended. Below is a photo from 2001, and a current day photo of the wall. If you look closely enough you can still see it.

“The Kokomo Kid” painted his hobo moniker with red & white brush paint w/ a RXR symbol and the date “6-’93” on the porous concrete of an old railroad building near the tracks in a wooded area that was once a large train yard. The name sounds exotic, but I imagine it may be a reference to the city of Kokomo, Indiana, which is about 100 miles northwest of here. This moniker is still visible today, 27 years later, on the concrete shell of the building. The first pic is a scan of a photo I took in probably 2002 or 2003, with my camera cord or something obscuring the top view, of course. I have also adjusted the contrast to help the name show up better. The last couple pics are from 2018 and 2019.

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Old signs get replaced or demolished. Signatures get painted over or buffed away. Photos from from 2013-2020.

In 2000 or 2001, I was out skateboarding with a friend. We drove near the railroad tracks, and saw a train was going by really slowly. So, we stopped and got out and I ran up closer and started taking pictures of it. A throw-up on a hopper by an online and real-life pen-pal of mine came up. It was exciting to see a freight by someone I knew from a different state. The train stopped. I looked down the tracks, and said, “Holy sh*t!”, One of the train cars was dangling off the tracks like a toy train. I told my friend what had happened and we drove further down, and parked the car. We walked the line and took photos, although he forgot his camera and was bummed. Up ahead we could see someone walking towards us. It was a railroad worker, he has an older black guy wearing an old school conductor hat. He told us that if we needed to cross over the line, we should do it here, because the auto-carrier cars didn’t have platforms on them, and that the train was going to be there for a long time. We did what he said and walked back. Later on, a crane removed the derailed hopper and set it on its side next to the tracks, where it sat for a long time. These are some of the pictures I took that day. This is one of the few Braze pieces I’ve ever caught.

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Richmond has a long rail history, and we actually have two historic depots in town. One has been totally restored, and the other is still standing, but in dis-repair, but it is set to be restored, as outlined in the article below. In the late 90s when I started photographing freights, they were still using the tracks behind the depot to store gondolas. When they built a new bridge on National Road the line was cut off, and it became totally abandoned. The area was finally turned over from CSX to the city recently, and will be used to connect the Cardinal Greenway walking trail to the Gorge Trail. Here are some scans from the early 2000s, after abandonment, and present day photos of the depot.

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https://www.pal-item.com/story/news/local/2020/06/17/money-approved-put-new-roof-richmond-little-depot/3197636001/

https://mrlinfo.org/history/thenandnow/cclstation.htm

More recent catches rolling through Richmond, Indiana. As a young dude, the rails were my only source for seeing graffiti from all over in real life. A rolling gallery. I still love it, and there is so much more graffiti now. I do enjoy seeing fresh and new pieces, but I am always on the look-out for those crusty classics, too.

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My good friend told me there was an unearthed Kwiz piece deep in the woods. So, in January 2013, two of my friends, and myself went out on a foot journey to find it. We spent a long time searching, but we found it, and it was still pristine, considering it was from 1995! I still go check it out several times a year, and it’s still hanging on 25 years later.

Kwiz was an active Richmond, Indiana writer in the early-mid 90s. Just about every spot we would find, he would have already had a piece there.

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Jasta had a few tags in town in the mid to late 90s. It was a simple tag with a nice halo over it. Some were in high traffic areas, like the one on a traffic electrical box on the westside of town in front of a grocery store, that ran for years. This one pictured was also in a high traffic area. The photo is from the early 2000s after it was buffed. It’s funny when the bare minimum is used to paint over graffiti, and it’s still recognizable.

Throw ups are usually done quickly with only two colors, simplified letters, and are frequently in highly visible areas. Here’s some newer ones and oldies.

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