The automobile may rule when it comes to personal transport, but moving freight miles is more efficient by rail.
Private freight lines criss-cross the Rockies, the prairies, and the deserts, sneaking past the back yards of cities and cutting through vast forests. In the Depression Era of the s, the unemployed took to the rails to try and find work - crossing vast stretches of land in an open grain car, or huddled inside a box car - hiding from the "bulls", as the railroad police were called.
But even before that, post-Civil War soldiers found their way home on the rails. And later, as the push towards the less developed West Coast began, settlers and adventurers alike jumped on board. Jack London, author of The Call of the Wild and White Fang, famously ended up serving 30 days in jail for vagrancy after train hopping his way to Niagara Falls in the s.
For men like Tuck and his Hobo Jungle companions such as Wrong Way "guess they call me that 'cos I'm going the wrong way most of the time" , Bolty "half my face is metal" and Firecracker Wendy "my dad was an alcoholic, I first jumped the rails going to his funeral" , are what you might term professional hobos - welcomed by the residents of Britt, including museum director, Linda Hughes.
The atmosphere is friendly - gossip abounds, with tales of playing cat and mouse with the railroad police. Britt also honours the hobos by providing a section of the local cemetery for their eventual resting place. But amongst the full-time hobos there is some suspicion about another group of train hoppers - those who have jobs, homes and money - but who choose to do it for adventure and excitement.
And if you don't know it you can easily be crushed. The train? It won't even notice". As described in American Tramp and Underworld Slang , written by Godfrey Irwin in , hobos could also ride as "blind baggage tourists" pretending they had tickets , as "open-air navigators" on top of open freight , or as "bumper riders" standing on the couplers between cars.
By the end of the s, the hobo rail-riding phenomenon had faded due to a variety of factors, including the improving economy. As the century continued, increasing freight train speed, more trucking, and new laws made hobos rarer. As trains got faster, it became harder to hop them, and hitchhiking probably took some of the population as well.
Rail-riding hobos didn't disappear, but they became much less common. Still, Hobohemia hasn't completely disappeared. A culture of hobos ensured that — which may be why there are still hobo conventions even today. And some of the attendees will probably take a nice train to get there.
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Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The best strategies for jumping on a train, from s hobos. Share this story Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share All sharing options Share All sharing options for: The best strategies for jumping on a train, from s hobos.
Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. In the s, lightweight boxer Lou Ambers occasionally rode the rails across the country. There may have been a million hobos in They called it Hobohemia Hobos worked hard to evade brutal private police These hobos are being shipped away from Los Angeles in In , 2, trespassers were killed.
Hobos found many dangerous ways to ride a train without getting caught The exact origin of this picture is unknown; these hobos may be German. The practice of travelling on the outside of trains in South and South-East Asia is very common phenomenon due to a high population density and overcrowding of trains.
In India, Indonesia and Bagladesh it's much more common than in any other part of the world: thousands of people can ride outside a single train. A lot of people in these countries travels by hopping on passenger trains every day.
Freight hopping is also practiced, but in a lesser degree. Most railways lines in Asia has no electrification, however, average speeds of trains on these lines are much slower. In the recent years, railroad companies of these countries started campaigns against riding on the outside of trains.
The police and railway guards can be found at big train stations, sometimes they may organise raids against train hoppers, however usually nobody cares about people on the outside of trains. A huge country with big distances between cities, lots of rails and trains, no bulls, little security It is! Well, almost. First of all, you will be fined for australian dollars if get caught. Also there's little information to be found about times, destinations and yards, so several hours will have to be spent scouting out the system and your nearest rail network.
Different gauges are used for different states, which means certain trains can only operate within their state. Pacific National runs through most of the country, with routes to and from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Tasmania has its own rail network, going from Hobart up through the middle of the island.
Note there is no rail service to Tasmania! Note that this website is mainly about hitchhiking , another free form of transport, which is much more legal and especially more safe. File:Sapsan meets trainsurfers. File:Sapsan between carriages ride. File:Freighthop flatcar container. File:Freighthop View between carriages. File:Freighthop 2.
File:Passenger train roof ride. File:ED2T climb between cars to outside. File:Trainsurfer police escape. This article is partly based on work from Wikipedia. Typically, riders will go to a rail yard where the trains switch out crew. They will either know from other riders of a spot to hide and wait, or they will find one themselves.
Recreational train hoppers have their own code — there are books and websites which tell you about how to find your way around the freight network, how to befriend rail yard staff, and tricks to make riding as safe as possible.
This Reddit forum goes into quite some detail on how to find your train. Forgot your password? Lost your password?
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