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Southeastern Graffiti

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DynamicSpirit

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There's also a very good picture of the damage on the Bexley is Bonkers blog.

Very sad to see this kind of vandalism - especially on something that is so much going to help the local community in the area the train was parked in.

I wonder how much it's going to cost to clean the train up? Is it likely to just be a case of spray-washing the paint off or would the original colours on the train need to be re-applied?
 
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DynamicSpirit

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That is a **expletive as painted on the train** disgrace

How the hell can such people get access to the trains? Is there ANY security?

To get to the train, they'd have to climb over a wooden fence which I'd guess is about about 2m high. Difficult but probably not impossible for a reasonably fit person of the young male demographic that's usually responsible for most graffitis. And then just avoid the 3rd rail on the SouthEastern lines. I don't know what security there is there, but I'd imagine it would only take 5 mins or less to paint the train - so to stop the person doing it, you'd basically need a security guy to get to the train within a couple of minutes of the offender first scaling the fence. Given that the only safe way for a security guard to get to the train is to walk along the track (assuming it's blocked to all moving trains), that would seem a pretty tall order. Bear in mind too that there are about 2 continuous miles of exposed/vulnerable track, and most of the parked trains/equipment - which is where security will therefore probably be focused - are parked on sidings at the Plumstead end, 2 miles away.
 

Aventra

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There's also a very good picture of the damage on the Bexley is Bonkers blog.

Very sad to see this kind of vandalism - especially on something that is so much going to help the local community in the area the train was parked in.

I wonder how much it's going to cost to clean the train up? Is it likely to just be a case of spray-washing the paint off or would the original colours on the train need to be re-applied?

The train has had to be hauled to Old Oak overnight for cleaning, depending on how corrosive the paint is that they’ve used and how quick they are to clean it can depend on what damage is actually done to the original paint work. If left on for too long it can eat away at the 345’s paintwork meaning an expensive respray. But I can’t imagine it’s been a cheap task of hauling the unit from Abbey Wood to Old Oak via NLL then the time it’ll take to clean it, then potientially respray it, then haul it back to Abbey Wood. Plus while all this is happening it’s not doing what it’s supposed to be doing and testing the central operating section.
 

DynamicSpirit

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Oh wow, that sounds a lot of work and pretty expensive. Not sure it's been doing much the last few weeks? Seems to be parked in the same place every day.

How would they get it to OOC via the North London line? Off the top of my head, there's no connection at New Cross, so presumably it would have to be via the Wandsworth Road-Imperial Wharf link?

If leaving graffiti on too long leads to expensive resprays, then that won't bode well for the SouthEastern trains and their recent bout of graffiti that doesn't seem to be getting cleaned off at all quickly.
 

Aventra

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Oh wow, that sounds a lot of work and pretty expensive. Not sure it's been doing much the last few weeks? Seems to be parked in the same place every day.

How would they get it to OOC via the North London line? Off the top of my head, there's no connection at New Cross, so presumably it would have to be via the Wandsworth Road-Imperial Wharf link?

If leaving graffiti on too long leads to expensive resprays, then that won't bode well for the SouthEastern trains and their recent bout of graffiti that doesn't seem to be getting cleaned off at all quickly.

I believe it’s only used at night due to construction work during the day in the tunnels, so would probably appear that it’s not been doing much.

I’m not sure, but the path was from Stratford so I presume it went through the tunnels and came up at Stratford:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/K96066/2018/05/09/advanced
 

DynamicSpirit

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I believe it’s only used at night due to construction work during the day in the tunnels, so would probably appear that it’s not been doing much.

I’m not sure, but the path was from Stratford so I presume it went through the tunnels and came up at Stratford:
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/K96066/2018/05/09/advanced

Interesting. That is some path! Up to Barking and back (presumably to get onto the correct track at Stratford) and then up to Greenford and back (I assume that also has something to do with getting on the right track). If that really came from Abbey Wood, I make that three reversals, so the diesel engine would have had to push quite a bit of the time.

Is there any way to be certain that journey was taking the Crossrail train for graffiti-removal, and not some other unrelated manoeuvre?

Incidentally I see another (graffiti-free) Crossrail train is now parked where the graffitied train was, which seems to imply they've found another train from somewhere to replace it.
 

Aventra

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Interesting. That is some path! Up to Barking and back (presumably to get onto the correct track at Stratford) and then up to Greenford and back (I assume that also has something to do with getting on the right track). If that really came from Abbey Wood, I make that three reversals, so the diesel engine would have had to push quite a bit of the time.

Is there any way to be certain that journey was taking the Crossrail train for graffiti-removal, and not some other unrelated manoeuvre?

Incidentally I see another (graffiti-free) Crossrail train is now parked where the graffitied train was, which seems to imply they've found another train from somewhere to replace it.

Yes it was 100% the right train, It went round Greenford loop as it saves having to go to Hayes then run the loco around onto the other end. The last bit onto the depot is propelled on.

That would be 345021 the other central section testing train.
 

Rail.Fan

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Whilst obviously not being a huge solution to the problem,If the TOCs made the outsides of the trains more inspiring and good looking (Such as StageCoach South West Trains) maybe people wouldn't feel like ruining the outside of trains as much, If I was in that mindset and I wanted to go out spraying and I saw a train already looking clapped out like most SE trains do I probably wouldn't care about ruining it anymore than it already is.
 

furnessvale

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Interesting that it seems to have been removed from the windows but left on the body work.
It should be roughly covered with any sort of paint rather than enter service like that.

One of the pleasures these vandals derive from their activity is seeing and photographing their work in service. One thing they hate is being "dissed" by being overwritten.
 

trainmania100

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Surely it would be cheaper in the long run to construct fences at depots to prevent access to the units, which will prevent this kind of thing? It can't be that hard to identify hotspots of tagging , shunter comes in the morning and sees it's tagged so report it and get electric fence set up 2000volts surely that would be cheaper than getting them cleaned in the long run
 

Domh245

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I think the law would take a dim view of TOCs deliberately electrocuting trespassers. It's also worth pointing out that unless you are going to also put gates over the entry/exit tracks there will still be access to the depots, so the ne'er-do-wellers will still be able to gain access to the depot if they're determined enough
 

Peter Mugridge

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It should be roughly covered with any sort of paint rather than enter service like that.

One of the pleasures these vandals derive from their activity is seeing and photographing their work in service. One thing they hate is being "dissed" by being overwritten.

Yes, but also - while I appreciate that we cannot avoid discussion the existence and extent of the graffiti problem, I have concerns about plastering clear pictures of the results on a public forum.

Could we perhaps blur out the details of the graffiti from photographs so we can still discuss the issue in full and show the extent of it but without giving the miscreants the pleasure of seeing their dubious unofficial re-livery efforts displayed online?
 

jon0844

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Fair point.

A 387 was tagged quite badly today inside. I think we need to remind ourselves of the fact that tagging inside trains is on the up (massively) too, as is etching. No photos though.
 

Skimble19

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Yes, but also - while I appreciate that we cannot avoid discussion the existence and extent of the graffiti problem, I have concerns about plastering clear pictures of the results on a public forum.

Could we perhaps blur out the details of the graffiti from photographs so we can still discuss the issue in full and show the extent of it but without giving the miscreants the pleasure of seeing their dubious unofficial re-livery efforts displayed online?
I have to agree with this - does seem almost like giving these cretins what they want: people to see it.
 

Rail.Fan

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I've noticed so far this week most of the Networkers and Electrostars seem to be clean from tagging.
 

greyman42

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Whilst obviously not being a huge solution to the problem,If the TOCs made the outsides of the trains more inspiring and good looking (Such as StageCoach South West Trains) maybe people wouldn't feel like ruining the outside of trains as much, If I was in that mindset and I wanted to go out spraying and I saw a train already looking clapped out like most SE trains do I probably wouldn't care about ruining it anymore than it already is.
They could not care less what the outside of the train looks like before they vandalise it. Perhaps your comment was a bit tongue in cheek?
 

furnessvale

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Seconded. It seems Southeastern have got a lot more trains cleaned in the last week or so than in the prior month or two.
In order to break the problem. the New York Subway had a strict policy of not running dirty stock, even if that meant cancelling services. As I said in an earlier post, seeing their work moving round the system and photographing it in service is a major attraction.
 
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