Riding the Freight Trains
When I was a young lad I used to ride the freight trains.
This pic is from April 1977, my buddy John and I were riding a fast freight from Chattanooga to Memphis.
Our trip was from Atlanta to Denver.
There were no open box cars on this train. But there were several cars of automobiles. We found an El Camino on the third level, this was about 15 feet above the rails. We put our gear in the El Camino and rode backwards, at 70 mph, across Tennessee.
This pic was taken by John. I climbed off of our car and decided to go for a walk on the box car behind us. You can see the tail gate of the El Camino at the bottom of the pic.
Not a bad ride, except, you were going backwards in the El Camino, and wouldn't be too good if it rained. Much preferred was an open box car.
This pic is from May 1972 on a fast freight from Atlanta to Chattanooga.
Marc is smoking a home rolled Price Albert. He looks like a hobo, but, 7 years later he graduated valedictorian from Emory Law School in Atlanta.
We were amateur hobos, we went down to the big Marietta Street yards near Ga. Tech and we were bewildered. There were about 22 tracks in that yard.
Professional hobos know all the yards, and they know where every track goes. The pros hide out at the fringe of the yard, and they hop the moving train. Dangerous, but they fear arrest if yard workers spot them.
We went up to a yard worker and told him we wanted a fast freight to Chattanooga. Believe it or not, he radioed up to the control tower and told them what we wanted. The control tower radioed back and said "What have you got, some hobos?"
He replied, "Yeah I got 3 hobos want to get to Chattanooga."
The boss radioed back "Put them on a box car on track 14."
He showed us track 14, we found an open box car and we were on our way!
On this run, I had to sing the song by Neil Diamond, "Cracklin' Rosie."
"Hitchin' on a twilight train...
Aint nothin here that I care to take along
Except, maybe a song...
To sing when I want
No need to say please to no man
For a happy tune..."
We didn't have any cracklin' Rosie, but needless to say we had a couple pints of Jim Beam, you have to drink booze while hopping a freight.
My buddy Richard on the fast freight from Atlanta to Chattanooga.
I don't know what the purpose of this bar was, but there was a steel bar across the open door, about five feet high.
For some reason, Richard decided to hang out of the open door.
I believe Richard had had several nips of the Jim Beam at this point.
Pic from the El Camino from the fast freight from Chattanooga to Memphis in 1977.
My buddy Marc on a Canada Pacific fast freight in Saskatchewan Canada, August 1973. We could not find an open box car on this train. We went up to the front engine, there were 3 engines on this train.
We asked the engineers if we could ride on an engine.
The engineer yelled down at us "Have you boys got any alcoholic beverages?"
We said "Yes we have a quart of red wine."
"OK, well give us a drink and you can get on board!"
That was a Canada engineer railroad joke.
He told us that we could get on the empty engine, engine number 3. He said "Now don't pull any levers, you will blow up the train."
So we got on engine number 3. It was a good ride, except, very warm and smelled of diesel fuel. Not as good as a box car, but, beggars can't be choosers.
Allen catches some breeze at 70 mph on the Canada Pacific fast freight near Moose Jaw Saskatchewan, August 1973. Damn, it was hot inside that Canada Pacific engine.
We rode 800 miles in 24 hours, from Calgary to Winnipeg.
Train stopped in Winnipeg and we had to bail out, too hot and diesel-smelly.
Those engineers were nice to us, several time along that run the train stopped, and the engineers came back and gave us bottles of cold water.
They told us that whenever the train stopped to lay low, as there were lots of Canada Pacific rr cops around, automatic 3 days in jail if you got caught.
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My buddy John, from Denver was visiting me down in Georgia. We needed to head back to Denver. We decided we would hop freight trains.
We went down to the big train yards on Marietta Street in Atlanta. We caught our first train in a boxcar, and in a while we were in Chattanooga.
In Chattanooga, we caught a train headed west. On this train there were about twenty cars carrying new automobiles. The autos were in three levels. We climbed around, until up on the top level we found one car that was unlocked! So, we were sitting in a brand new Ford station wagon. That was a weird feeling, being fifteen feet above the tracks, going along at sixty mph in a car that wasn't running. Pretty comfortable ride.
I looked under the seat, and found the jack pot. There was a giant key ring! On this ring were about 400 keys. We realized that we had the key for every automobile that was on this train. The shippers locked every car, and put all the keys in one car, up on the top level. They figured it was one in a million that somebody would find the one car that was unlocked, and find those keys. It was our lucky day.
Pretty soon we found the key to the station wagon we were in. I cranked up the car, it had a half tank of gas! That was a very unusual sensation, to be sitting in a car, engine idling in Park, and traveling at sixty mph, fifteen feet above a railroad track.
We turned on the heat, and turned on the Braves baseball game. John got out a pint of Jack Daniels. I got out some sardines and Saltine crackers. We felt like the Kings of the Road.
In a few hours, we pulled into the big train yards in Memphis. The railroad cops spotted us, and pretty soon, a big detective had climbed up to our car, and told us to climb off the train. He was not very friendly. He threw our backpacks to the ground. John had a Nikon camera, and it got dinged up in his backpack from the fifteen foot fall onto the gravel, but it didn't break.
Pretty soon we were in handcuffs, headed to the Memphis jail.
The Memphis cops and the railroad detectives grilled us for about an hour. It seemed there had been a lot of break ins, and vandalism to automobiles on the trains in the Memphis yards. The railroad had sent eight tough detectives up from Texas to put a stop to it. These guys couldn't figure us out. We hadn't stolen any stereos. We hadn't vandalized any of the cars. All we had done was cranked up the station wagon, and turned on the Braves game.
What really blew their minds was that we had the keys to every automobile on the train! They were asking us, "Is this an inside job? Do you work for Ford in Detroit, and are your part of a big car theft ring?"
Finally, we convinced them that we were just some college boys hopping freights across the country, and that we just happened to find the one unlocked auto on the one train car we were on, by luck.
They said they would let us go, no charges pressed. The told us they better not catch us on any more trains in Memphis.
We walked out of the jail. We went down to the highway, and hitchiked across the Missippi River bridge, and on into Arkansas. A hundred miles into Arkansas, we hopped another freight, and rode into Denver in a boxcar.0 -
When I was a young lad I used to cross the continent on the freight trains.
Young Allen catching some breeze at 75 mph on the catwalk of engine #3, Canada Pacific fast freight. Outside Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, August 1973.
There were no open boxcars on this big freight train. We had to ride in the third engine.
My buddy Marc has a smoke in the door of the boxcar, Atlanta to Chattanooga fast freight, April 1972.
Richard admires the view from outside the boxcar, Atlanta to Chattanooga fast freight.
Why there was a bar in the doorway of this boxcar I don't know, and why Richard would swing out there at 65 mph I don't know but I think alcohol was involved.
Allen takes a stroll on top of the boxcar at 55 mph, Chattanooga to Memphis fast freight, May 1977.
View from on top of the boxcar.0 -
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My Dad told me about a story when he left the East Texas cottonfields during the Great Depression heading for California looking for work. It was quite a tale, especially when he was on his way home to Texas and the trains were loaded with folks. It was at this time that he hitched himself under a boxcar, and lashed his belt to a metal bar, then held on the best way he could until he could get a better space. Scary to say the least. 0 -
When I was 10-11 years old I lived close to the tracks along the Mississippi. We used to walk to a quarry along the tracks that was about 2 miles from home and play and shoot pellet guns. One day a freight train was going in that direction and it was going slow. We decided to jump in an empty freight car. Well, it didn't look like it, but it was accelerating, and by the time it got to the quarry it was going so fast we were afraid to jump off. It didn't slow down enough to jump off for about 120 miles! We found a house, the lady called the cops, they got in contact with my freinds parents, who came and got us. Didn't get any grief from the police, but Mom sure gave it to me. 0 -
[:D][:D][:D] 0 -
Excellent read. Thanks. 0 -
A buddy of mine and I did the same as Dak To 68 only we jumped. We must have rolled for 60 feet and bruised parts we forgot we had. Amazing what a little whiskey and an adventuresome spirit will do! AAaaaa, to be young again. 0 -
Cool story, thanks for sharing![:)]
When I was in high school me and a buddy were going to jump a freight to Seattle. Never did it and that's probably for the best.0 -
though well written and entertaining, if its a real story, it would appear you didnt learn your lesson and ignored the law... again.
they should have thrown you in jail and marred your record. maybe it would have made you rethink your escapades. abusing someone elses property is a crime. trespassing is a crime. think about it.
its why they bombed us.
we call ourselves a christian nation, but a good majority blemish our credit and we all suffer.
choose sides my friend. good or evil.
do whats right. avoid lawlessness.
[;)]0 -
quote:Originally posted by bobski
though well written and entertaining, if its a real story, it would appear you didnt learn your lesson and ignored the law... again.
they should have thrown you in jail and marred your record. maybe it would have made you rethink your escapades. abusing someone elses property is a crime. trespassing is a crime. think about it.
its why they bombed us.
we call ourselves a christian nation, but a good majority blemish our credit and we all suffer.
choose sides my friend. good or evil.
do whats right. avoid lawlessness.
[;)]
It is a true story, bobski.
It is a crime to hop a train, that is true. If it is as serious as you claim it to be, it is surprising that the railroad detectives decided it was so insignificant that they did not press charges.
You are pretty tightly wound about enforcing the letter of the law.
Ever drive 56 in a 55 zone?0 -
I've always wanted to do that...[8D] 0 -
I have also wanted to try that 0 -
Allen -
how long ago was this? I'm into trains, and some of the reailfan mags I read say that post9-11 some of the RR's have cracked down bigtime on "hoboes"...0 -
Holy smokes,
After years and years of railroading, I don't know where to start. Nothing worse than seeing body parts along the tracks. And not just rail-burger. It seems that railroad tracks just seem to attract dead people. Last month in Omaha, yep, right along the tracks where we were working, a dead guy. No work there all day, cops taped it all off as a crime scene. Sat around and watched all day. Here's a ditty that fits the topic...
Riding east-bound freight train, stealing through the night
He was just a lonesome hobo who was fighting for his life
The sadness in his eyes revealed the torture of his soul
as he raised a weak and weary hand to brush away the cold
Outside the rain is falling on that lonely boxcar door,
but the little frame of Hobo Bill lay still upon the floor
As the train sped through the darkness and the raging storm outside
no one knew that Hobo Bill was taking his last ride
He was a lonesome hobo
No warm lights flickered 'round him no blankets were there to fold
There was nothing but the howling wind and the driving rain so cold
As he heard a whistle blowing in a dreamy kind of way
the hobo seemed contented for he smiled there where he lay
It was early in the morning when they raised the hobo's head
the smile still lingered on his face, though Hobo Bill was dead
There was no one there to weep for him or soothe his weary soul
for he was just a hobo who had died out in the cold
Got Guns?0 -
It is a true story, bobski.
It is a crime to hop a train, that is true. If it is as serious as you claim it to be, it is surprising that the railroad detectives decided it was so insignificant that they did not press charges.
You are pretty tightly wound about enforcing the letter of the law.
Ever drive 56 in a 55 zone?
[/quote]Just the facts please.Lighten up Bob.0 -
That was a cool read, thanx for sharing! 0 -
i Refuse to call the US a Christian nation. It seems to me that when people get all extreme with their religion they lose it a little bit. Muslim extremists want there countries to be islamic states, and they think all non believers should die. Religion is fine and all but keep it to your self. 0 -
...reminds me of when I hoped a freight from Grand Central Station and road it all the way to Siberia, non stop...I would never have done it but I was forced to as the mafia had put out a hit on me because I had boosted a container of nylon lepard print thongs that they were smuggling into Saudia Arabia...[;)] 0 -
This was way before 9-11. This happened in 1977.
Back in the seventies it wasn't hard to hop a train. I did it five or six times. One time, rode 800 miles across Canada, starting in Calgary and headed east.
What made it easy to hop a train was that the yard workers would help you, believe it or not. If you went to a big train yard, such as the Marietta Street yards in Atlanta, there were about 20 tracks. There were no signs, you had no idea which track went where. So you just went up to one of the yard workers and asked him if there was a freight headed to Chattanooga. Believe it or not, the yard worker would tell you which track was the Chattanooga track, and how soon the train would be leaving. He would say, "find an open boxcar and climb in. You got it made today, the yard detective is off work."
The professional hobos know which track goes where, and they hang out a mile outside the yards, and hop a moving freight. This is dangerous and takes a lot of skill. Real hobos don't want to be seen in the yards for fear of getting busted.
I never talked to a yard worker who gave me a hard time. One time, I asked a yard worker which track went where, he got out his radio and radioed the control office. They radioed back "Why do you want to know, you got a rider?" I thought I was in trouble, but the the controller told him which track I wanted.
A boxcar is a pretty comfortable ride. There is lots of room, you can walk around. You can sit in the door with your legs hanging out, and watch the scenery. I have sat in the open door dozens of time when going past a railroad crossing. I wave at the cars, and the kids just about do backflips, they wave back so hard. They have seen a real hobo! They didn't know that I was just an amateur hobo.
It is pretty nice at night to roll out your sleeping bag on the floor of a boxcar, and look out the door at the stars above the Kansas prarie. You fall asleep to the rhythm of the rails, as the car passes over each connecting joint of the rails it makes a clicking sound, so there is this clicking noise about three times per second. You get used to it, it is a comforting sound.
That time we got arrested in Memphis, there were no open boxcars on that train, so we decided to ride on one of the automobile carrying cars, and hope it didn't rain. It wasn't very comfortable, we rode along for twenty minutes sitting on that steel platform that the autos set on. Then, we found the unlocked station wagon, and we had a pretty good ride, while it lasted.0 -
Thanks for sharing. Great story. 0 -
Great story - we used to hop freights from Lake Orion to Oxford, MI, when I was a kid.
Hill on approach to Oxford - there we would jump and catch the next one home. Got
to playing cards and not paying attention one day - missed our hill - went on into Pontiac.
With the help of a yard worker got on the right one home - didn't get back until 8PM - got into one HELL of a lot of trouble from the folks - they had called the Troopers to look for us.
... never hopped another ... summer of 1954.
[:D]0 -
Great story, weather or not the self proclaimed moral compass of Gunbroker approves of it. 0 -
tried it a few times with one of my friends, we only rode the side for a few hundred feet though, one time the train was going a good bit faster than it looked, grabbed a hold and damn near felt like it ripped my arms off, ohh to be young, i love it, already decided im not getting old 0 -
Anyone ever took a trip on a freight liner? I hear it could be fun to go from west coast to Russia or China. Long, but pretty cheap. Uhm... could be fun, unless you run into pirates [;)] then it could be more fun if you could bring GAU-12 with you. 0 -
Believe it or not, I was once on a whale watching boat off San Diego with a girl friend and started chatting to an old couple - this is like 1965 - and he casually mentioned that he was the first American to ever travel across Russia on the Trans-Siberian railway - with a diplomatic detachment of Marines - with the White Army - back in 1918 or 1919, I believe.
It was one of those moments when you know you should be asking a lot of questions and can't think of any ... .
... missed an opportunity there - always regretted it![:o)]
He was eager to talk and I just sat there like a dummy!
[:o)]0 -
Yeah, back in 1965 you could still find people who were alive back then. My old landlords were Russians who bailed with Germans from Russia in 1940's. The guy served here in the Navy afterward, he's full of stories. Too bad not a lot of people are listening and recording [:(]
I wish I'd write all of my grandfathers war stories, but hey, I was only 12 or 13.0 -
Hopped them for small rides as a teen. One end of town to the other. Too bad you can't ride now without fear of a axe murderer in the same car. I'm retired now and would like to take a ride 1 more time. Just see where it goes and take a bus back home.[:D] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by kimi
My Dad told me about a story when he left the East Texas cottonfields during the Great Depression heading for California looking for work. It was quite a tale, especially when he was on his way home to Texas and the trains were loaded with folks. It was at this time that he hitched himself under a boxcar, and lashed his belt to a metal bar, then held on the best way he could until he could get a better space. Scary to say the least.
kimi I didn't know your Dad picked cotton with black people0
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