Loughborough Junction - graffiti deaths

[TomJ]

I presume we can take it as read that we a have huge sympathy for those who work on the railways and those who deal with this sort of stuff

 

I know many people don’t care about those who died or what they were doing. But at the end of the day they were still someone’s son. Three families, who do care, are burying their sons. Something most of us hope never to do.

['CHARD]

I presume we can take it as read that we a have huge sympathy for those who work on the railways and those who deal with this sort of stuff

 

I know many people don’t care about those who died or what they were doing. But at the end of the day they were still someone’s son. Three families, who do care, are burying their sons. Something most of us hope never to do.

 

I have experience of it from both sides.  One side, as a railway servant on call for such eventualities, and responsible for the go-live of a new urban railway, including the awareness of the local school and college cohort that could be tempted to be first to tag the pristine new unblemished, virgin concrete structures.  Knowing how tenacious and determined would-be 'writers' can be.

 

The other, as a young man, roused from fitful sleep by a knock on the door and a WPC offering tea and sympathy while her colleague asks 'do you recognise these?' and proffers a pathetic easy-seal bag with a few pieces of male jewellery within.  That had belonged to the great guy who would have become my brother-in-law.  His was death by misadventure.  Had it happened today the owners and promoters of the gig venue would no doubt serve jail terms, for inadequate safety of their fire escapes.  Back in the eighties it was 'just one of those things.'  And it was devastating, but no-one sought to project blame - he chose to walk on the roof of the adjoining building, how was he to know that no 'Use crawling boards' warning signs were there that should have been.  It will be the anniversary in a couple of weeks, and not a day goes by without some memory, mention or knowing look.

 

So forgive me if I am less than charitable about people who elect to participate in extreme sports, they are aware of the dangers.  They are not martyrs.  And in the circumstances 'he died doing what he loved' is a brave mask applied by those devastated in the process, by the tragic decisions made by their loved ones.

[Wickham Green]

The Network Rail advice is not quite correct - it is a criminal offence to trespass on the railway if once there, the perpetrator refuses to leave after being asked to do so. (Section 16 Railway Regulation Act 1840; Section 23 Regulation of the Railways Act 1868 and Section 55 British Transport Commission Act 1949). It appears that a sign warning that it is a punishable offence to trespass on the railway, provided it is properly evidenced and presumably that it is likely that the perpetrator saw or should have seen it is sufficient for the 1949 Act. It may also be sufficient for the earlier Acts, which explains all those warning signs you see on railway property.

In order to have any legal status such a sign must be clearly legible but, unfortunately, it's a fair bet that any such notice - or 'Limited Clearance' sign for that matter - would have been sprayed over years ago !

[Poggy1165]

Instead of having people sitting on their bottoms in jail, the Government should have all-night working groups scrubbing all this crap off, and/or painting over it until there is none left. The knowledge that their "work" will always be removed in a timely fashion would strongly deter these loons, and in the end reduce the risk of such fatal accidents.

 

The idea that this ugly graffiti is in any sense "art" is too daft to talk about. Anyone who thinks it is should invite these people around to "tag" their living room walls. Then they could enjoy their "art" without any risk to anyone and without polluting the environment for everyone else.

[Enterprisingwestern]

I hadn't noticed this before, but there's some good news to come out of this tragedy, quoth the Express...

 

'Commuters were treated to a dedicated 10 foot graffiti mural on the side of a train by friends of the deceased on Thursday morning.  The eye-catching design featured a panel with the three men's graffiti tags - ‘Lover’, ‘K-Bag’, and ‘Trip’ - on a Victoria line train that runs from Brixton to Walthamstow Central.'

 

I won't reproduce the art, due to reasons of copyright, although if you like your art you can find it here: https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/1/590x/secondary/Graffiti-mural-1391802.jpg?r=1529677541376

 

So it's not all doom and gloom then, commuters have been provided this special treat dedicated to the deceased Old Masters.

 

I didn't realise how prophetic I could be.

Perhaps we can "dedicated 10 foot grafitti murals" splashed about with gay abandon celebrating murderers, #######s, rapists, con men etc etc, who are similarly criminals as these airheads.

 

Mike.

[jjb1970]

The sad thing is that in the days since this happened I'd bet a lot of money that a lot more than three young people have died through absolutely no fault of their own, not doing anything wrong, without causing trauma to railway workers and who have died in complete anonymity, without fawning media articles, without their deaths being commemorated by further acts of vandalism.

[stewartingram]

OT, but for a while I was firstly a visitor (radio/cctv tech), then after redundancy, a low-grade PO, at Littlehey prison in Cambs. One of the inmates was apparently inside for art fraud and dealings, having copied a number of famous paintings. Anyway, one of the corridors in the office suite had been decorated,with permission, by him, with various paintings done straight on to the wall. Very good they were too, including one of a WD emerging from a tunnel. I would have loved to take some pics of them, but that was a bit of a no-no in that place!

 

Stewart

Edited June 25, 2018 by stewartingram

[Neil]

...

 

The idea that this ugly graffiti is in any sense "art" is too daft to talk about. Anyone who thinks it is should invite these people around to "tag" their living room walls. Then they could enjoy their "art" without any risk to anyone and without polluting the environment for everyone else.

 

Already done, and on a large scale too.

[101]

Already done, and on a large scale too.

That's hideous, can't believe that was allowed on a listed building

[Reorte]

That's hideous, can't believe that was allowed on a listed building

Agree it's hideous but the article says it was allowed because the surface it was painted on (concrete rendering) would soon need replacing anyway. But it looks like the owner is trying to keep it for some bizarre reason.

[Zomboid]

That's hideous, can't believe that was allowed on a listed building

I quite like it...

 

Like it or not (and I expect I'm in a tiny minority here), it's an artwork which the owner of the building commissioned, paid for and approved of. Personal taste allows you to dislike it, of course, just like any other painting. A totally different concept to the unauthorised and unwanted tagging/ territory marking which resulted in 3 premature deaths at Loughborough Junction.

[Andy Kirkham]

Agree it's hideous but the article says it was allowed because the surface it was painted on (concrete rendering) would soon need replacing anyway. But it looks like the owner is trying to keep it for some bizarre reason.

Perhaps he thinks it makes the castle a more effective visitor attraction. In its plain state, it's a rather dull building.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Andy Kirkham

[JeffP]

These are my idea of decent "graffiti".

https://www.google.co.uk/search?biw=1272&bih=786&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=sBYyW7n-MqTAgAatnZvoBA&q=trompe+l%27oeil+france&oq=trompe+l%27oeil+france&gs_l=img.3...71490.77297.0.77608.20.16.0.4.4.0.163.1547.10j6.16.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.17.1360...0j35i39k1j0i67k1j0i30k1j0i8i30k1.0.1ZVDsV2S3bk

[The Stationmaster]

I presume we can take it as read that we a have huge sympathy for those who work on the railways and those who deal with this sort of stuff

 

I know many people don’t care about those who died or what they were doing. But at the end of the day they were still someone’s son. Three families, who do care, are burying their sons. Something most of us hope never to do.

 

If you had ever been involved in dealing with the outcome of a suicide where the event is usually the culmination of a tale of personal tragedy and where compassion and an attempt at understanding has a genuine place in your feelings one can hardly be criticised for taking a different attitude to the behaviour of the allegedly wholly sane people who put their lives, and potentially others, at risk in the pursuit of a hobby or plain stupidity.

 

As I said way above in this thread the bereaved in this incident are no different from countless other bereaved people who have lost family and close friends to sudden deaths.  They are simply that and nothing else - the bereaved - and they need no more mention of sympathy than any other bereaved people or relatives.  I have seen nothing in the media since this incident expressing sympathy for those bereaved as a result of a tragic accident or any other sort of premature death.

[Rugd1022]

This morning I was working a stone train down the WCML to Battersea and Stuarts Lane, the deeper I got into London the more graffitii I saw, the area around Latchmere, Longhenge Jcn and Pouparts Jcn being particularly bad with mindless scrawl plastered on almost every vertical surface within the railway boundary. The vast majority of it is unreadable and far from brightening the area up, it just looks so depressing. The wanton spread of weeds and lineside vegetation doesn't help but then that's down to Network Rail. The few words or tags I could make out are just plain odd... 'SKFI'... 'ZUGHZ'... 'RAFK'... what are they supposed to mean? Seeing it on every brick structure and bridge girder is one thing, but when it's sprayed haphazardly on lineside signage, speed boards, signals and relay cabinets it's just ridiculous.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Rugd1022

['CHARD]

This morning I was working  deeper  into  Pouparts Jcn 

 

Fair play 

[railsquid]

Graffiti artists trying not to be seen when hit by train, inquest told

 

Lots of talk of "painting" and "artwork".

[Enterprisingwestern]

20 minutes ago, railsquid said:

Graffiti artists trying not to be seen when hit by train, inquest told

 

Lots of talk of "painting" and "artwork".

 

To stay relevant, whitewash springs to mind.

 

Mike.

[Grovenor]

Who do you think is whitewashing who?

Rgds

[Enterprisingwestern]

37 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

Who do you think is whitewashing who?

Rgds

 

The vandals justifying to the public.

 

Mike.

[The Johnster]

The danger is part of the game in tagging, proving one has the attitude, skill, and bravery to paint on surfaces that are difficult and dangerous to access, but in view of the travelling public who are supposed to be in awed respect of the heroes.  It is an essentially clandestine activity, usually carried out under the extra level of danger imposed by working under cover of darkness.

 

These people see themselves, and are seen by their peers, as urban warriors, fearless ninjas, partisan freedom fighters in the cause of art.  Of course, most of the rest of us think it's a bit stupid, especially in the wake of a tragedy like this, a pointless waste of young and arguably talented lives, and disapprove of both the stupidity and the defacing of surfaces with art we don't like because it challenges our concepts of what art ought to be, but that's kind of the point; 'we' are the enemy as much as the authorities being rebelled against, with our timid acceptance of trespass and safety rules, not to mention common sense and the cowardly desire not to be pulped by trains, that prevent us behaving in the same way as them.  Us and them is the key to the attitudes here, as it usually is...

[Enterprisingwestern]

8 hours ago, The Johnster said:

The danger is part of the game in tagging, proving one has the attitude, skill, and bravery to paint on surfaces that are difficult and dangerous to access, but in view of the travelling public who are supposed to be in awed respect of the heroes.  It is an essentially clandestine activity, usually carried out under the extra level of danger imposed by working under cover of darkness.

 

These people see themselves, and are seen by their peers, as urban warriors, fearless ninjas, partisan freedom fighters in the cause of art.  Of course, most of the rest of us think it's a bit stupid, especially in the wake of a tragedy like this, a pointless waste of young and arguably talented lives, and disapprove of both the stupidity and the defacing of surfaces with art we don't like because it challenges our concepts of what art ought to be, but that's kind of the point; 'we' are the enemy as much as the authorities being rebelled against, with our timid acceptance of trespass and safety rules, not to mention common sense and the cowardly desire not to be pulped by trains, that prevent us behaving in the same way as them.  Us and them is the key to the attitudes here, as it usually is...

 

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I personally think you are either oversimplifying or overthinking the situation.

I was brought up to respect other peoples property and not to disobey rules put in place for my protection.

As regrettable as the loss of any life is, the simple fact of the matter is that they brought it on themselves, irrespective of their ultimate aim.

They were trespassing, plain and simple.

 

Mike.

[Reorte]

4 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I personally think you are either oversimplifying or overthinking the situation.

I was brought up to respect other peoples property and not to disobey rules put in place for my protection.

As regrettable as the loss of any life is, the simple fact of the matter is that they brought it on themselves, irrespective of their ultimate aim.

They were trespassing, plain and simple.

I don't think he was defending their actions in the slightest but saying what he thinks is going on in what passes for their heads. That's necessary if you're ever going to have a chance of improving the situation by making fewer people want to make a mess in the first place (which is always better if you can make it work then having to resort to physical barriers to keep them out).

[jim.snowdon]

7 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I personally think you are either oversimplifying or overthinking the situation.

I was brought up to respect other peoples property and not to disobey rules put in place for my protection.

As regrettable as the loss of any life is, the simple fact of the matter is that they brought it on themselves, irrespective of their ultimate aim.

They were trespassing, plain and simple.

 

Mike.

On the contrary, whilst I do not condone their actions, I rather think that The Johnster has it summed quite well. The objective is to put one's tag in a place that presents a challenge, preferably one that is too much for their peers. It's a form of oneupmanship, even if it is not one that we care for.

 

Jim

[Oldddudders]

20 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

To stay relevant, whitewash springs to mind.

 

Mike.

Point taken. But the media knows human interest sells. So portraying these guys through the eyes of friends and family is tugging at heartstrings. For the media that is a result.