Railroad monikers or streaks are signatures or drawings done with oil-bars or solid paint markers on the side of freight cars. Traditionally they were done by rail riders and train workers, but they started to take-off in the 90s with graffiti writers, also. When my friend and I first started to really pay attention to trains we noticed lots of signatures on the sides of cars, mostly on the ends were the ladders were, and they looked like they were done in some kind of wax marker, or oil pastel. Some of it looked like “graffiti” as we knew it, but some of it didn’t. The first streaks I remember seeing were; The Solo Artist, The Phonograff, The Rambler, and of course Colossus of Roads. We would see multiple streaks by The Solo Artist on the same line all with different year dates. It made me think these guys must be writing on trains all the time. I still love seeing fresh monikers and also the really old faded ones. Here are some streaks I’ve photographed, plus some from Richmond writers.

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One nice thing about scanning old photos and negatives, is that some of the ones that didn’t come out very well can be adjusted in Photoshop, like this dope Other character I caught in December of 2000. One of the very early trains I photographed in Richmond. Other is a writer originally from Canada, who has gained international recognition for his artwork. I’m excited to see what this one actually looked like.

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A couple recent photos of older pieces by ESOES and SUFR. The Sufr is from 2007, and I think the Eso is from the same year, as well. 13 years seems like a long time, but they are painted under a railroad bridge that was built in 1909.

These classic pieces from the mid-90s ran for years at this trackside spot. There was another piece to the left of the “Suct” piece, which I’ll have to dig for it, again. Mize had several pieces around town. The first photos were taken March of 2001, and the second set was in October 2013, post buff. They are still there, if you look hard enough.

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Richmond’s railroad history goes way back! Today we still see a fair amount of rail traffic. Norfolk Southern’s single track runs through Richmond from Cincinnati, Ohio to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in what they call the New Castle District. Watching trains is called “benching” by graffiti writers. Benching freights was my first exposure to graffiti from outside the area, and even still today you can see graffiti from all over the country, Canada, and even Mexico roll by. From time-to-time I will be posting classic photos of freight train graffiti passing through Richmond, IN.

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Desie had a piece with a friend on a no longer existing building near the Main Street bridge. I can’t tell what the other piece says. I’ve always thought it said “Grow”. There was also an unfinished piece underneath the G Street bridge that said..”I’ll be back, Trust Desie.” But the piece was never finished. From what I can gather, Desie may have been a Chicago writer visiting, or a student. It also said “Trust..” inside Desie’s piece on the wall pictured. A friend of mine found an old flick of a Desie freight caught in Indianapolis with CRN written next to the piece, which I was informed may have stood for “Chi-ROCK Nation”. The pieces here were probably done in around 1997 and ran for quite some time before the building was razed. The connector shot was taken in probably 2000, and the others in 2003ish.

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A writer’s blackbook or piecebook is usually a hardbound sketchbook with a black cover. Blackbooks are for drawing outlines and sketches for pieces, and having friends and other writers draw in it, also. They become standalone works of art by themselves. I plan to showcase different pieces from my blackbook collection from over the years. Here are a few SUFR sketches from the early 2000s.

This Kwiz piece was probably painted in 1995/96, I’m guessing. There is a dissed ME piece above it. The first photo was taken in around 2002, and the second photo was from 2015. It’s still hanging around today, I believe.

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The G Street bridge was built in the early 1930s and then remodeled in 1990. It’s set to be refurbished again this year. It’s one of my favorite bridges and there’s a lot of local graffiti history down there. It does kind of have a weird vibe, though. I once read in a book called “Weird Indiana”, that Jim Jones’ uncle committed suicide by jumping off the bridge, if i remember correctly. Jim Jones was a cult leader, mass murderer, and Richmond High School graduate, class of 1949 (Wikipedia). RHS is directly on the east-side of the G Street bridge. For help, visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org

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This piece has stayed relatively fresh because it’s hidden under a bridge. The difference when I can back 9 years later was it appeared people were squatting under the bridge that time.

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