| Posted by on November 4, 2013 | |
Interesting shot. See RP 385060 for a 1987 UP view as part of an Operation Lifesaver special.
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Herbie was a character scrawled with a yellow lumber crayon on hundreds of railcars during that period.
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Herbie was a character scrawled with a yellow lumber crayon on hundreds of railcars during that period.
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Herbie was a character scrawled with a yellow lumber crayon on hundreds of railcars during that period.
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Herbie was a character scrawled with a yellow lumber crayon on hundreds of railcars during that period.
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Herbie was a character scrawled with a yellow lumber crayon on hundreds of railcars during that period.
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Wasn't the small chalk design the mark of Bozo Texino? Don't recall his real name, but he was supposed to have worked for a southwestern RR and did this design on cars that passed through his yard. I saw a few myself in the 70s.
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| Posted by Sport! on November 5, 2013 | |
looks like Herbie is taking a "pequno siesta".... aaaahhhh the "pre-tagging days"!
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That my friend is Mopacs tribute to the famous car moniker HERBIE. You can see his tag just to the left of the painted palm tree. At one time it was hard not to find a car with his tag. Now the kids use spray paint and ruin the cars. This is a common pastime for railroad employees to use "chalk" to put their personal moniker on a car and see where they might see it again.
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It is very interesting. Would like to know the story.
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During the 1970's the Herbie figure was chalked onto absolutely thousands of freight cars, complete with month/day/year. I recall hearing that upon retirement some railroad employee working at a hump yard admitted that he was taging many cars each shift. I have replicated the graffiti on some of my model railroad cars.
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Herbie was a pretty famous moniker artist in the late 1970s.
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Herbie was a MP carman. The colored drawing shows what he drew on hundreds of PFE's over the years. Of course, he just drew them in black without any color. The car was used for safety promotions.
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It appears to be a safety slogan. Et: Tax exempt means you are free of paying taxes, Injury exempt means you are free of injuries. This must have been a program advocating accident free work on the MoPac as well as other locations.
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I cannot tell you how many times I saw "Herbie" on railcars during my 34 years on the railroad. I believe he was the best knows, most traveled, little siesta guy ever. Whoever he was, I salute him!
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Very interesting, notice the vent on the upper right corner of the box car as well.
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"Bozo Texino" was a completely different moniker. He had a Texas 10 gal. hat for a tag. In my 20 years on the rails I photographed hundreds of different chalk tags most by fellow employees. Not to be confused with the trespassing spray painters we see on almost every rail car today.
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There's a really cool Super 8 film by artist Bill Daniel called "Who is Bozo Texino?" which explores the mythology
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