Freight graffiti, Part 16: Granite Rock again

I have mentioned the rock hoppers lettered for the Granite Rock company in previous posts in this series, and in the present post I will wrap up the topic. (Previous posts in this series are most easily found by using “freight car graffiti” as a search term in the search box at right.) These hoppers operate on Seth Neumann’s 1999-era layout set here in the Bay Area. Granite Rock still uses its original quarry near Watsonville, California and its cars are familiar sights in the area (background on the company is in this post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2020/04/freight-car-graffiti-part-12-granite.html ).
     Given the amount of space already devoted to graffiti on freight cars in this series, I only want at this point to illustrate the range of graffiti images available for use, by showing them on some of the Granite Rock cars I have decorated.
     I will begin with Granite Rock (GRCX) cars 1012 and 1053. Shown below are two cars, one side of each. Both cars have had the original car number covered by graffiti and then received a paint patch so the number could be restored, as I have shown before (see post linked in the first paragraph). The right side of GRCX 1012 (at left) has a large graffiti piece from Blair Line set 2262, and a small piece from Microscale 87-1536, while the left side of 1053 (right) has a piece from Microscale 1536.

The other sides of the cars are shown next. The left side of car GRCX 1012 (at left) has a large piece from Blair Line set 2262 and a smaller one from Microscale 87-1536. while the right side of car 1053 (right) is graffitied with two pieces from Microscale set 87-1536.

     For another pair of these cars, I show GRCX 1019 and 1047.  First, the left sides of both cars, and once again, the car numbers have had to be repainted on a paint patch. Car 1019 (left) has a piece from Blair Line set 2257, while car 1047 (right) has two pieces, both from Microscale 87-1523.

Next, the right sides of the same cars. Car 1047 (at left) has two graffiti, one from Microscale set 87-1533, one from Blair Line set 2262, while car 1019 (at right) has one piece from Blair Line set 2263 and one frm Microscale set 1535.(As with all these images, you can click on them to enlarge.)

     A further car of interest is GRCX 1078, with both sides shown below. On the left side, at left, are graffiti pieces from Microscale sets 87-1533 and 1536; on the right side, at right, are again two Microscale pieces, from sets 87-1535 and 1536. Both sides are weathered and tagged.

    Two more cars portrayed as a pair are GRCX 1029 and 1056. First, the left sides. At left is car 1029, and in this case the reporting marks and number are repainted in the left panel of the car side, using Herald King set PR-127. The graffiti piece is out of Microscale set 87-1534. At right is car 1056, with a piece from Microscale set 1535.

and the right sides are as below. At left is GRCX 1029, with the black paint patch renumbering, and graffiti pieces from Microscale sets 1523 and 1534. At right is car 1056, showing graffiti from Microscale 87-1523.

     Lastly, I will display GRCX 1036 and 1051. First, the left sides. Car 1036, at right, has the black patch renumbering, and graffiti pieces from Blair Line set 2263 and Microscale 87-1536. At left is car 1051, with the Herald King renumbers and a graffiti piece from Blair Line set 2263 (the numeral “3”) and a paper overlay from a local photograph.

On the right sides of these two cars, below, GRCX 1036 is at left, with a large piece from Blair Line set 2261 and small pieces from Microscale 87-1636. At right is car 1051,with graffiti from Microscale 1533.

    This concludes this large group of Granite Rock cars (though not the entire fleet I have worked on), and this will certainly equip Seth Neumann for rock car shipments! The cars vary greatly in size and style of graffiti coverage, and in degree of dirt and grime, so this is likely a realistic batch of cars for layout use.
Tony Thompson