Do people still hop freight trains?

Are there still transient types of people who hop freight trains to get a free ride? Like they did by the masses during the Civil War and Great Depression?

atleast one guy still does it...


http://youtube.com/watch?v=kycDkIABM0A

Several of my friends who work for NS have seen people hop on trains and once told me that one guy had some sort of old recliner perched in a gon.

carajul wrote:Are there still transient types of people who hop freight trains to get a free ride? Like they did by the masses during the Civil War and Great Depression?

Sore subject; I suggest it be left alone. Look up "Freight train riders of America", a criminal gang.

Irish Chieftain wrote:

carajul wrote:Are there still transient types of people who hop freight trains to get a free ride? Like they did by the masses during the Civil War and Great Depression?

Sore subject; I suggest it be left alone. Look up "Freight train riders of America", a criminal gang.

Yeah, or you can watch the movie "Scarecrow" from 1973 with Al Pacino and Gene Hackman.. It was a different time back then...It is not the norm now.

Hi All,

First off let me refer you to the movie, "Emperor of the North" with Lee Marvin.

Second; a few time a week a beet train comes through the Pomona area, now UP tracks towards Los Angeles. Occasionally you find it in the Hole, awaiting a train to pass it. As you watch it, you hear voices from inside the high walled gondolas and once one fellow stood up and asked me how far it was to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, one of the brakemen came by and I told him he had riders. He told me he knew about it and they would be taken care of in Los Angeles.

Hi Alan. I hope that that brakeman didn't look like Ernest Borgnine, did he ?

Check out the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZvm5H4F-aA

Rest in peace, man.

carajul wrote:Are there still transient types of people who hop freight trains to get a free ride? Like they did by the masses during the Civil War and Great Depression?

yes.

I looked at those young men in that NY video and thought, "What if they were terrorists?" It seems all too easy. It's disturbing

Check out the Conrail Lehigh Line thread. The local PD busted an FTRA member a few weeks ago who was headed to a FTRA convention in Sacramento. It's very much an active, and of course dumb lifestyle.

Back in 84 in Houston when I was on leave from The Airforce, I was waliking around downtown, hopping from bar to bar and came across a rough looking couple of guys, they told me they had just came from Florida (I think) hopping Freight Trains, I actually shared a couple of 40's with them, they had some pretty interestin stories, they travelled the whole country using freight trains as their primary mode of transportation.

Anywho, carry on

sometimes I've noticed blankets and stuff in the circular cutout ends of cylindrical covered hoppers.

We still get a few. Unless they are inside an engine or trying to break into a car or container, I usually look the other way. I have had my share of eating mac 'n' cheese and six for a buck ramen noodles in my younger days, so Let em ride I say, they ain't hurtin nothin.

I can remember working an assigned train on set miles and overtime did not start until 14 hrs on duty. In other words our money was already made and the goal was to get over the road and tie-up. Last thing I wanted to hear was, ''eastbound 2751 you got a rider inside an 'empty' boxcar''.
''Gee, thanks'', I would think to myself. ''Ya just ruined our quit buddy. Now I'm gonna miss the game''.

Growing up in Grants Pass, Oregon in the late 70's myself and friends would hop on a SP local just for kicks. A few times the brakie would see us and just say, ''don't get hurt''. I even got my first cab ride this way from a friendly crew.
When I would call my dad to pick us up in Medford he would always ask, ''how in the heck did ya get there? When we told him how we got there he would just laughed and say, ''next time your walking back''

DrawbarFlats wrote: Last thing I wanted to hear was, ''eastbound 2751 you got a rider inside an 'empty' boxcar''.

Classic ... observant and diligent employees ... gotta love 'em!!!