Train Hoppers Thread

most of the good books are from the guys doin it back in the coal era.. really dope though.

 

What happens when the police catch you? I'm thinking of doing this for the first time, solo and with a 40 lb backpack carrying a survival knife and bear spray.


Did you get robbed/attacked on the train? What was the reason for the attack? I'm a pretty non violent guy who avoids conflict, but can fight back if need be. I'm pretty quiet and keep to myself.
</blockquote>well, been arrested a couple times. Trespassing, And crap. Most the time they will jus throw u outta the yard.
I got attacked/robbed cause I lived the vagabond life style. Was homeless and traveling for 12 years.. so I wasn't attacked on train forsay. But have to deal with certain lifestyle adjustments..
Like sleeping under bridges ect..

Now there's a thing we call 30 milers. They are people who jump for fun from one town to the next. You don't have to go all out your fist time and do a 1000 mile haul.

 

you know what though I'm payin for it now. All those years took a toll on me partyin, drinkin and getin high the whole time kept me from realizing I was sick.
Am now diagnosed with lupus and can't do shit anymore.
Like my wife says I lived my life and have seen more in a matter of hours then some will ever see..
Lifes a garden bro, dig it..
I wouldn't take a day of it back even if you paid me.

 

i wouldnt mind at all, glad you showing an interest.
ima go smoke one sit back and think on one for a bit.

 

the iron road is a train travelers doc.
pretty good, but the dude they follow is kinda cake...

 

so,
 
couple short stories:
 
first time i screwed up:
 
i was hopping from chicago to nyc
a hop ive done a million times 
being these are the places i call home
begining of winter but was still mild.
ill usually jump down to the middle line (3 main line cross country high mid low lines)
then up when hit the east coast.
well got drunk on train passed out and missed my jump off in lower IL.
woke up 9 hrs later somewhere in PA in blizzard clothes literally frozen to steel..
steel is very unforgiving doesnt ever warm up or ever cool down...
 
first life threatening situation:
 
riding in a "suicide car" 
on frieght cars theres different designs..
theres piggybacks which u see the 18wheeler trailers stacked up on or ocean liner steel containers
grainers, pretty self explanatory.
well on piggybacks theres a "well" on the end where you can actually sit down in and chill and not be seen.
well grainers have exposed wells but still ridable.
now coal cars have a well u go down in but theres no floor
you can see the ground wheels ect...
some of us guys will ride suicides short distances in emergency jumping situations 
theres a little ledge..
but first time i did this i didnt realize at 60-70 miles per hour and all the down draft theres an incredible suction.
lots my pack with everything that meant something down it. never to be seen again.
 
 
some good times:
 
rolling with 3 of my best friends all our dogs a bag of grass a bag of wine and rolling through the country side on top of a car with not a soul around gettin f'd up watching the world past by..
 

 

bag of wine = "space bag"
drinking wine on trains is a hobo tradition..
goes together like cigerettes and sex. 

 

since there seems to be interest in this topic:
 
Advantages of train hopping

• Riding on the outside is a much more exciting way to travel by train than riding inside of it. You can feel the wind and observe your train during it's motion.
• Extended view of surrounding area. If you ride inside the train, you can only watch a small part of countryside and railway infrastructure through a side windows, especially if windows don't allow you to protrude from it. If you ride on the outside, you have a 180-degree or 360-degree panoramic view, which can be much more wide than a view from train driver's cab.
• Opportunity to travel by train for free, without having a ticket.
• Opportunity to ride in a comfort when a train is extremely crowded or there is a strong heat inside railcars. For example, local and subway trains in a number of countries can be extremely overcrowded during the rush hour, that makes riding inside of them very uncomfortable; moreover, in some cases it's impossible to get in a crowded train. Riding outside of it allows to travel with a comfort.
• Opportunity to ride on a train, which does not provide transportation of passengers and does not allow to enter it. For example, in most cases you are not allowed to get into a freight train, a service train or a locomotive, but you can ride on the outside of it.
• Opportunity to hop on or off a moving train. Thain hopping allows to catch a departing train or jump from an arriving train at low speed before it's complete stop.

 
 
Safety
Train hopping is more dangerous than riding inside the train. In fact, this type of traveling is as risky as motorbiking or another extreme activity. Riding on the outside of train can be fun, exciting and full of adventure, but it also takes a lot of time and patience and requires physical preparation, skill, concentration and incessant monitoring of environment during the trip. Moreover, train rider must consider a presence of current collectors, resistors and busbars on roofs of electric trains and watch for catenary, bridges, tunnels, platforms and other objects of railway infrastructure while riding on side or on a top of train and be able to keep a safe distance from them.
First of all, your best option is to find your nearest train yard or big train station and spend some good long hours waiting and watching, ecpecially if you don't have a good experience of travelling on the outside of trains or if you want to ride in an unknown region. Keep an eye out for the different types of cars, what looks rideable, what doesn't, and keep track of the timetables and frequencies. Practice сlimbing on different types of standing train cars and try to find the most comfortable places before the real rides. If the railway line is electrified, try to determine the type of electrification (AC power lines and trains usually have bigger insulators than DC), and be very careful if you want to ride on the roof of a train under an AC power line. Research of the area is vital beforehand, but also while sitting by the tracks in the cold dark night, the wind and rain blowing into your face. You'll need passion and an adventurous spirit to keep you there, but once you find your ride, you will be heavily rewarded.
 
 
Basic safety rules

• Have your brain lucid (no alcohol or drugs) during all time of trip.
• Analyse differents parts of train and avoid hanging and grabbing on shaky parts of car (like rusty handles, mirrors, wipers and etc.), which could be breaked by weight of a human.
• Take the most comfortable and stable posture during the ride. Always have 3 fulcrums while riding on front, back or sides of train car (stand on two legs while holding with one hand, or hold with two hands while standing on one leg) and maintain weight of your body to different parts of train to avoid falling off it in case of breakage of handle or emergency stop.
• Keep the safe distance from electric catenary, currents collectors, busbars and dynamic brake resistors of a train. Note that height of catenary can vary during the ride; for example, it's much lower under bridges or inside tunnels. There's very high risk of getting electric shock on roof of a car if you are closer than a half of meter to AC power line or electric equipment of a train: for example, in case of 25 kV power line, an electric arc can occur at a distance of 10 to 45 cm, depending on the weather conditions. If you keep the distance more than one meter from electric currents, you get an acceptable level of safety even if you ride during the rain under an 25 kV AC power line, however, roof riding under a power line is not recommended during a thunderstorm due to high level of air ionization
• Watch out for bridges, traffic lights, tunnels, platforms, and other trains if you ride on side or roof of a train and keep the safe distance from them, or immediately get into the loading gauge of train if there are too close. If it's impossible to ride inside a loading gauge of train, check the railway lines for close railway infrastructure before rides. For example, the structure gauge in many subways is too close to loading gauge of train, so attempts to ride on it's roof or side can be deadly in case of collision of rider with a tunnel infrastructure.
• Do not ride on the outside of trains without handles and other structures that allows you to hang on the train and ride in comfortable posture, if you have no special equipment, which allows you to attach yourself to the train. For example, to ride on back side or between carriages of high-speed trains ICE, train hoppers use ring bolts and vacuum lifting pads in couple with safety belts.
• Do not try to jump on or off a moving train, if it moves faster than the speed at which you can run. Before jumping on a moving train, make sure that the car has a handle and a footrest, than run with a train and hang on a handle, and jump onto a footrest, otherwise you risk to fall down. If you want to leave a train during it's motion (for example, to avoid a catching by the police at the station), get to the lowest footrest of car, face forward to direction of movement, than jump to the side off the train and run after a contact with land surface. Don't try to jump if you ride between carriages, because you can fall under the train. Start practice of jumping on or off a moving trains at slow speeds (lower than 10 km/h), and then gradually try to jump at higher speeds.
• Riding on the outside of trains is illegal in many countries, so the police, guards and railway workers can try to catch you if you will be detected. Some railway guards, train engineers, conductors and other railroad workers can be train hoppers can be very rude with train hoppers and even can come to blows or with them. If you don't want to be detected, you have to hide at lower parts of a train before a railway crossings bridges and especially large train stations. For example, a person who locates between carriages of passenger train or inside a gondola car of freight train is fess visible, than a person on a roof or side of train car. Also, wearing a clothes with the same color which train has or dark clothes can help you to not be spotted.

 

whip em and run..

 

depends really, I rode alone a lot.
But would meet up with other travelers in cities where we would chill. Like chicago in the summer is very easy to meet others.
Training hopping is becoming a dieing american past time.
But there are a lot of us out there.
As far as runnin into someone actually on the train is very rare but I'm sure it could happen. Depending where you live and the time of year matters greatly if there could be people on "that" train. I'd say if its summer time and you live near a major city its a good chance someone's on that freighter...