Customer Reviews

Freight Train Graffiti

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Great book, tons of color shots and information. Great reference for model railroaders looking to add a present-day feel to their trains. Beware! This book will inspire you to tag your own stuff.

This is a comprehensive look at the freight train graffiti movement in the Americas. It's a huge book that includes more than a hundred of the most influential writers in the scene. From the Pre and Sento cover to the present day, this book covers the history from end to end and in full color. Short passages explain who's who and what's what. It is amazing. You'd happily pay $50 for it, but luckily you don't have to. It's a must-have for any rail graffiti enthusiast.

Unlike some of the people who have written bad reviews of this book, I actually BOUGHT IT and READ IT. I found the book to be chock full of stories and anecdotes. Some of the pictures are too small for my tastes, but this book doesn't look like it was intended to be a picture book. It looks like a good resource for people who want to read firsthand accounts of what it is like to be a train writer, learn a little bit about the history and origins of the freight tag, and have plenty of pictures to go with the text.

If you want to see huge photos of incredibly intricate work that took several artists days to perfect, this is not your book. If you want to learn about the scene, read stories about the hazards and risks involved, and see a broad range of tags, from small hollow ones to huge full color end-to-ends, to hobo drawings, try this book.

How many trains would a train writer write when a train writer writes on trains? It's in the book. Some books have pictures, but they don't answer this one. This book belongs in my collection, and that's where it will stay.

The subject is well researched, although rail cars are not totally unique to graffiti, which seems to be a human tradition since the first caveman scratched out the image of a beast on the wall of his cave. History buffs study graffiti along the Oregon Trail in places like Independence Rock in Wyoming. Graffiti is personification. What I find amazing is that so many "artist" have so much time, and resources to supply great quantities of paint to do this illegal form of art. Obviously several hours go into one masterpiece at some point, would expect detection by authorities. I have a little difficulty with the smallness of the writing. Otherwise, I find it interesting

Not since Breakin' 2, Electric Boogaloo, has a vehicle of popular culture captured the true essence of the graffiti artist. Some may argue that Turk 182 holds high honors in this catagory, but true enthusiasts know Bob Clark to be a hack.

Before this book you would have had to quit your job, bought a year's worth of Boone's Farm wine, and hung a sack from a stick to see this level of train graffiti. Jack Kerouac would be proud.

Great book. It not only has thousands of color photos but a great brief history of graffiti and tons of quotes from the artists themselves. Definitely worth the buy!

While I was hoping for larger pictures throughout, to use as references for my detailing of model railroad freight cars, there are only a few large pictures that are of use. Most, are small photos, showing only the tags/writings and not the whole car, or of individual "artists plying their trade". There is some discussion about each of the "artists"; I'm personally not interested in the why behind the graffiti - to me, while some call it art, I consider it defacement of private property (unless the owners give permission to do this, it's wrong, IMHO) and an unsafe practice to go sneaking around trains, that could very well kill a person alongside or in-between cars. However, it is there on the freight cars and to model my freight cars prototypically, I have to understand and see what is being done to them. The photos are crisp and there are some pretty good background on the choice of trains, etc.

I paid much less than the cover price and I consider it a worthwhile resource at that price. Not sure I'd have even considered purchasing it at $29.95.

Many people have said it earlier and better, so this is for the fence-sitters: If you like graff, get this book.

This book does a great job of telling the story of freight train graffiti. The authors did a great job of finding the artist that were really putting in work with amazing style. This is apparent by looking at the covers with Pre-One and Sento! These two alone say enough about this book. The stories inside are a great read and I thought the pictures were clear and detailed well. If you ever tried to paint a freight train you will really appreciate the style in this book and how the artists featured developed such technique and skill. They make it look easy! The stories and the writers perspective in this book is amazing. I especially like the chase stories! haha. I highly recommend anyone a fan of graffiti, art or trains to purchase this book. This is the 101 when it comes to graff of freights!

look at who it was done by,that should be enuff to tell you its dope,with out the hundreds of tiop shelf photos,in this book waiting for you to drewl over,a excellent book,the only reason why i didnt give it 5 strats is gets a bit to much of the same thing towards the end,but being such a thick book,it will have you hooked for a while...