# Train Hopping



## caravanman (Mar 30, 2013)

I know you guys have trouble with playing BBC tv online, but maybe you can access the radio?

"The last red blooded American adventure out there" - the words of a man who doesn't need to ride the rails, but does it for excitement.

Train hopping has a long tradition in America - from Jack London to the 1930s, when the unemployed took to the rails to find work. Despite increased security since 9/11, train hopping is far from a forgotten way of travelling in the USA - but the demographics are new.

Today the vast majority are illegal workers, mainly Hispanic, who seek to cross the border in to the States, and join legal migrants following the seasonal work - from lumber cutting in the north, to the melon fields of California. They risk entanglement with border guards and heavy machinery, even hanging in wire baskets under the units to avoid detection. Others take that risk voluntarily - seeking fun and adventure - getting their information from handbooks, conventions and websites giving safety tips and eulogising the thrill to be had taking to the rails. Finally, there are the hobos - people who choose to spend their lives on the road, and rails - welcomed annually as romantic heroes in Britt, Iowa, at the Hobo Festival.

Peter Bowes hears from the train hoppers of the 21st century - hair-raising tales from illegal migrants from Honduras and El Salvador; the engine drivers who takes two mile long freight trains across the remotest wildernesses in America, spotting 'jumpers' alongside the desert tracks; and those who prefer the excitement of an open box car to the safety of the wheel - preferring to lie on top of a lumber car and watch a starry sky as the wheels thunder below. Romance and danger - desperation and fear - the real world of "Train Hopping In The USA" today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p71wl

Interesting programme

Ed.


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## Bob Dylan (Mar 30, 2013)

Nice find Eddie! When I was in Taylor last week on a Double points Run there was a Band of Young Musicians that had come to Austin for South by Southwest waiting in the Taylor Yards to hop a Freight North! They told me they had ridden all over North America and Canada this way and werent really Harassed much by Rail Road Police like Hobos used to be in the Freight Yards!


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## The Davy Crockett (Mar 30, 2013)

I ran across someone at the NOL French Market who had a similar story to tell. Inner City Organic Pictures


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## DET63 (Apr 2, 2013)

The_traveler, of course, takes train-hopping to an entirely different level. I'll bet the BBC didn't feature that in their documentary.


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## George Harris (Apr 3, 2013)

Just a couple of weeks ago was talking with a man who was in track maintenance in time past. Somehow he got to talking about picking up bodies and pieces of bodies of train-hoppers that had been killed. In years past there was none of this biological hazard concept and you just picked the chunks up and hauled them to your truck. One of the strange ones he mentioned was finding a shoe with the foot in it. Called ahead and the crew in the yard found the rest of the person hanging on the end of a freight car, but dead having bled out.

Yes train-hopping can be considered the "Last red-blooded American adventure" but the questiong becomes, how much of your red blood can you afford to spread along the track?


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## DET63 (Apr 4, 2013)

Include a tourniquet in your travel kit if you go train-hopping.


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## CHamilton (Jul 13, 2015)

An interesting story of freight-hopping across Canada from 2010.


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## Bob Dylan (Jul 14, 2015)

CHamilton said:


> An interesting story of freight-hopping across Canada from 2010.


Wow! Truely an amazing feat, especially in the Canadian Cold! 

We just think riding the Canadian between Toronto and Vancouver is a long trip!!


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## TinCan782 (Jul 14, 2015)

Nicely produced piece. Thanks!


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## Rover (Aug 23, 2018)

I ran across this freight hopper on You Tube. He doesn't tell a verbal story, other than letting the HD camera show you parts of America not normally seen by the average person.

His Channel is RanOutOnARail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiZG_eKO6EI


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## railiner (Aug 23, 2018)

I really hate it every time this topic comes up, and possibly inspires otherwise sensible people to take up this dangerous and illegal activity.....


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## cpotisch (Aug 23, 2018)

railiner said:


> I really hate it every time this topic comes up, and possibly inspires otherwise sensible people to take up this dangerous and illegal activity.....


Agreed. It sounds fun (and probably is in some ways), but it's a pretty terrible idea. In fact, the fact that it sounds cool makes it that much more likely that someone sees an article or video like that and decides to go do it.


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## Rover (Aug 23, 2018)

cpotisch said:


> railiner said:
> 
> 
> > I really hate it every time this topic comes up, and possibly inspires otherwise sensible people to take up this dangerous and illegal activity.....
> ...


 And yet, what we are shocked at here, is commonplace in other places, and the danger is the norm.


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## cpotisch (Aug 23, 2018)

Rover said:


> railiner said:
> 
> 
> > I really hate it every time this topic comes up, and possibly inspires otherwise sensible people to take up this dangerous and illegal activity.....
> ...


Just because a ton of impoverished people in a third world country have to ride on the roof of a train doesn't mean it's not a bad idea to freight hop.


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## MikefromCrete (Aug 23, 2018)

Freight hopping is not only illegal, but dangerous. Freight cars aren't designed to carry passengers. Your fellow travelers are also probably not the cream of society.


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## CSXfoamer1997 (Aug 26, 2018)

Train hoppers are absolute idiots. They give the rest of us railfans a bad name.


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## railiner (Aug 26, 2018)

CSXfoamer1997 said:


> Train hoppers are absolute idiots. They give the rest of us railfans a bad name.


Any one who tries to ride a freight train, should not even be considered a "rail fan"....


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## CSXfoamer1997 (Sep 3, 2018)

railiner said:


> CSXfoamer1997 said:
> 
> 
> > Train hoppers are absolute idiots. They give the rest of us railfans a bad name.
> ...


You could say that again! Another example is Stobe The Hobo!


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## Steve4031 (Sep 10, 2018)

I shared the one for the coast starlight route with the railroad police. Never got a response. But should be easy to prosecute if they wanted to pursue.


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