Smokin' Joe has been around for many years, along with "Colossus of Roads",
"'viso" (as in C NW Proviso), "Ratz", Michael (with a cute little
face), and lots of others. It's getting to be a lost art - and it is, in
fact, art - since there are so few switchmen left and so little "boxcar"
business left on the railroads. Most of this art originated in the yards
when some trainman had to walk the length of a mile long drag freight and
thought leaving his mark would be appropriate. Of course, part of the
problem nowadays, is that the railroads no longer provide the chalk! Back
in the "good old days" the switch job foreman chalk marked each car so the
pin-puller knew how many cars to let go, and the track they were supposed to go
into. I've been photographing this boxcar art for over twenty five years,
and could probably come pretty close to a date when "Smokin' Joe" first hit the
rails. Philip A. Weibler
----- Original Message -----
From: John A. Swearingen
To: BRHS group
Sent: 12/3/2001 8:47:35 PM
Subject: [BRHSlist] Re: new graffiti
artist
Forgot to mention in my earlier post but the smoking steam engine
graffiti
artist not only dates and numbers his work but also has been known to
sign
it "Smokin Joe". It might be interesting to learn how many variations of
his
work there are.
Which begs another question. Has any serious railroad graffiti
artist (as
opposed to a mere scribbler) ever had more than one well-recognized
signature sketch?
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--- Philip Weibler
--- pawnbaw@e...
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