Stop & Examine

Your thoughts on Banksy.

RAIL readers have delivered their verdict on the subject of artist Banksy’s work on a London Underground train being removed quickly by LU cleaning staff.

We asked: was it art that delivered an important message, or just another example of graffiti ( Stop & Examine, RAIL 910)?

As this issue of RAIL went to press, well over 600 readers had responded to our poll. And a resounding three-quarters of you said it was graffiti.

We also asked for your opinions. Alan Winter wrote: “Graffiti is a form of criminal damage.

“An unemployed, hungry person who steals food for themselves or their loved ones is prosecuted, rightly or wrongly. But there is much more justification for that than for defacing our environment. Whatever the message conveyed by graffiti, creating it is a crime. Most of it is an eyesore to most people.”

Alan adds: “Perhaps one way to allow the nocturnal decorators to express their feelings in a socially acceptable manner would be to provide designated spaces for them to use. Would they use such spaces? Or is the damage and annoyance they cause part of their ‘reward’?

“If any of these people are caught disfiguring anywhere else, I think they should be sentenced to cleaning graffiti off public spaces in addition to a heavy fine. Make the punishment fit the crime.”

Chris Davison agrees: “Graffiti should be removed everywhere, ASAP. Graffiti ‘artists’ should be made, on conviction, to remove double the area they ‘create’.”

We were also contacted by Christina Burton: “Let me get this

“Funny how often people choose, perhaps unconsciously, superapt words,” observes Benedict le Vay.

“In RAIL 910, we have: rail operators’ social media teams contacting “thousands of people per day across several platforms”; on an article on seaside piers we have them reaching “a low ebb” in history (well they would, twice a day); and on an article partly about level crossings, we hear the industry must be “fleet of foot if it is to prevail and emerge stronger on the other side”.

“Sound advice, I’d have thought.”

straight. Banksy vandalises a Tube train, committing a crime. The train is taken out of service, many hours are spent scrubbing off the graffiti, all this adding up to a huge financial and resourcing cost.

“So, what happens? CCTV film studied, arrest made, court appearance, fine, community sentence or prison? Such would be the outcome for others whose anti-social behaviour costs millions a year, ultimately paid for by the already hard-pressed passenger.

“On this occasion… nothing. Except Transport for London has rewarded criminal behaviour with a commission for more ‘art’, for which Banksy will no doubt be handsomely rewarded. Who says crime doesn’t pay?”

“As a country we simply HAVE to get passengers back out of their cars and onto a properly integrated network of trains, light rail and buses,” wrote RAIL Managing Editor Nigel Harris in his

Comment in RAIL 911.

“A vigorous, well thought- out campaign is needed with a clearly communicated, simple message that trains are inviting, safe and ready for passengers. If such a campaign worked half as well as ‘stay at home’ we’d have the job done!”

Nigel recently retweeted a video showing a DRS-hauled Tesco freight to the north of Scotland, running effortlessly through the Highlands and taking maybe 70 lorries of the roads.

He adds: “Without really thinking, I tagged it: ‘Clean, green and saving the planet.’ So, there’s a start for sloganeers better than me - but if even only my own slogan was hashtagged onto the sides of passenger trains, it would start the ball rolling…”

Over to all our readers. We want to print your similarly effective slogans that can persuade people to return to public transport. Please send your suggestions to rail@ bauermedia.co.uk.

Calling all fans of the Blue Pullman: John Batts has a question for you:

“On April 23 1970, The Railway Enthusiasts’ Club chartered a Blue Pullman set for a day trip from Surbiton to Carmarthen with a connecting DMU over the remaining part of the Aberystwyth line. Did they ever do any other work away from their usual haunts?”

Let us know by emailing rail@ bauerme

dia.co.uk. With details and photographs as well if you have them. We’ll compile and publish a short list for John.

Still on the subject of graffiti, David Thrower wrote after spotting the photograph of the grafitti-covered electric multiple unit at Miranda, Spain ( Stop & Examine, RAIL 905). “I think I can go one worse!” he says. “The enclosed was taken at Sernada do Vouga, Portugal, a couple of years ago. Just think how good this diesel unit could look if restored to a heritage livery?”

sculpture that was originally created for the 1951 Festival of Britain has returned to London Waterloo station after almost 70 years. The Sunbathers, sculpted by Hungarian-born artist Peter Laszlo Peri, depicts two terracotta figures. The piece was once mounted on the wall at York Road, close to Waterloo’s entrance, but had been presumed lost until it was rediscovered at a London hotel in 2016, following a public campaign from Historic England. The ‘Pericrete’ figures (a special kind of concrete that was a cheaper alternative to casting in bronze) were unveiled at the station on August 24 by Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy CBE. They will remain at Waterloo for the next five years, courtesy of NR and Historic England.

Was Banksy’s work that was removed by London Underground staff artwork or graffiti?