think you're obsessed with trains?

Woah! And I though I was bad...

All I can say is wow!

I wonder how he switches his tracks?

It's certainly odd.

But, only track and  no train, he can do better

Larry

perhaps there is a caboose modesty conceals.

Why would you get abandoned right f way tattooed all over your body? And the switch points aren't even pro typical 

I hope his HOBOing days are over. IF he gets caught, there is no question on what he is up to

Modest thoughts didn't prevail after reading this.

All I can say is ouch!

I suppose that this for the train guy who already has everything else.  This would be painful.

NH Joe

I did tattoos for a brief time after getting done with art school (and realizing you really can't make a good living at it). Mainstream tats hadn't hit just yet but they were getting there.

Every day, I saw people who'd walk in and just wanted a tattoo with no idea what they wanted. I never understood that.

People would always look me up and down and not seeing any tats on me (I never found anything I wanted personally) and asked where mine were. I always told the truth, that I didn't have any and that I didn't 'get' why anyone would. After repeating this hundreds of times, I gave up in disgust because I wound up talking people out of getting them as often as I broke out the needle.

To this day, I've never understood the appeal. The majority of what I see on others is, to me, silly and usually shows either colossal bad taste of bad judgment.

Why would anyone want to do that to their body is beyond me!!!

Gotta say that is different! I am an active member in the classic car hobby and have seen all kinds of really cool auto related tattoos but this is really cool and different. I have wanted to get a tattoo for a few years now and this gives me an idea! Maybe just an upper arm band. Hmmmm.

Me, neither. The only one I ever contemplated was if I'd ever gotten to the Army Jump school (I never got a slot as I was in heavy mechanized units, in the pre-9/11 budget Army), I thought I might have had jump wings tattooed to my chest. But even if I had gotten the wings, I probably wouldn't have.

Glad it never came up.

Times change. I had a guy working for me who had a fair number of tattoos on his hands and arms (maybe elsewhere too).

I think that when he interviewed with me he had on a long sleeve shirt, and makeup covering his hand ones. Over time, he told me that he had to do that when he worked for IBM and was going on a customer site.

Once he felt at home at our site, he dropped the makeup, and didn't wear long sleeve shirts all the time. I didn't care. He was a hard worker and very highly skilled.

I wonder where the engine is?

I'd hate to think of any tunnel representations...

I have a railroad conductor's lantern tattoo. It all comes down to personal choice. If we were all the same this planet would be one boring place.

 Vanity, individuality, group participation, or just being appreciative of the art, I get it being "attractive" to some.

But it only took one look at real, live, "melon scooped" flesh from a bad one, for me to say "Neat! But I'll pass".

 I almost picked up that buzz pen too Lee. I couldn't bring myself to draw on someone when the times came I was offered an arm or leg.

  Many company "modesty policies" are based on stereotyping IMO.

 I.e. it's just another reinforcement of bigotry.

I got sick of loosing my best people at one place.

 I quit my job to support an assistant that was let go due to inability to cover his tat fully because "it went below the watch band". He thought it would do more good my staying on, so I did, and with the help of others, it did help some eventually. Namely hair color, and some piercings.

  Eventually he was asked back, but in a non-public capacity. A shameful number of strings had to be pulled considering the asset he had always proved himself to be. Numbers suffered without him being there for the public, 'nuf said      

And therein, we find the classic argument against tats and the like.

The bottom line is that when hiring, any company is going to want to hire someone they feel is drama-free and doesn't require an explanation to the public.

It's not bigotry, it's just simple business sense.

You get two people of the same gender and ethnic background (to remove race and gender from the argument even though the vast majority of people I ever saw with tats were/are white) with similar resumes:

• One is clean cut, dresses well and looks like they stepped out of Norman Rockwell painting
• The other has tats all down both arms (and on hands, neck, maybe even face) and piercings (and probably oddly colored hair)

Anyone who won't admit they'd hire the first one is a liar, unless they run a tattooing place or a nightclub.

People with tats will cry discrimination all day long...

Cry me a river, skippy. You did this to yourself. Turn off the waterworks because you missed out on that high-profile public-face job to someone with a resume like yours but with no tats.

Sure, someday, the young (and more accepting) people of today will be in charge and it probably won't matter so much then. But the people hiring now, generally, ain't having it. I've sat in on meetings to pick people from interviews and I can assure you, employers are noticing, and like it or not, often are making decisions based on stuff like this.

You can say it ain't right, but the employer has the right to choose the one that looks best to the public. And I'm certain that an employer can decide not to hire you with tats, because it isn't something you're born with.

We're in a curious society where people want to personalize stuff they probably shouldn't, but they have to live with those decisions and they have nobody to blame for the effects of that but themselves...

WOW, this took a turn didn't it? 

I have much respect for Lee, even where opinion seems to split.

"I couldn't bring myself do it" was about artistic confidence and pressure for perfection I didn't want. I hope that wasn't taken as a snipe. It was their choice.

   If I was literally colorblind, might I only notice if the hair was perfect, cloths straight, skin clean, and good attitude?

 I shouldn't be looking for uniform skin, but professionally worn clothing and attitude.

 One can only hope the senses, and stereotypes, don't often overwhelm judgement of rights vs right.

   It is a curious world, full of interesting things.

For instance, you can normally only ask this about piercings...

What gauge is that!  

Google: railroad tattoos, and switch to images.

looks like "Trackman" is #1, but not how i originally saw it.

be prepared for a few shockers.

just enjoy the art.

if this turns controversial it's bound to get zapped.

cheers...gary

That fool needs help.

If I get tired of my trains, I can sell them.  

Hes got track marks, on his track marks.