Trainhopping

Ok so I've worked for the railroad now for five years and I've yet to catch someone trainhopping, not that I'd mind, but I am interested in the culture. Do any of you use freights to get from place to place for free? I know Jolene has and I think that is so fucking cool.

Even though I can ride for free I would love to do this someday.

Oh and do any of you do graphitti on freight cars? I really enjoy looking at that as well. Some of it is incredible. They have even made mural decals for ho scale trains now. I'm not kidding.

one of my friends tags railroad cars, well he tags everything but I don't know anyone who hops trains

in the future you won't be able to go trainhopping because trains will hover six hundred feet above the surface of the earth and will travel at speeds upwards of nine hundred miles an hour.

edit: i wasn't payin much attention to the screen when i posted this and somehow came up with the lovely term 'travedivi'.

[Edited on Nov 22, 2002 by black0ut]

ive never done the trainhopping tihng before, but a friend of a friend's dad is this rich guy that goes 'hobo-ing' as a hobby.

ive ridden plenty of trains before, and one of the good things about it is seeing all the graffiti on trains and the sides of buildings and such.

[Edited on Nov 22, 2002 by catboner]

Does anyone know if there are any websites devoted to this? Where folks share information about what trains to take to go certain places? I am dying to know how people figure out which of our trains to get on because they all have different destinations and you certainly wouldn't want to end up on the wrong train. It's not like you can just go check our schedules either. Freight trains don't work like that.

crimethinc.org and crimethinc.net have some info as do some of the crimethinc-associated printed materials. Google also knows of some helpful pages.

My friend Daryl has hoped trains across the country. Dallas to L.A. and back to New York. He read a little too much "On The Road". He is in Tailand at the moment on yet another trip. I have driven the country and love road trips but have never done the train thing. I think I would like to though.

i've talk to my friend jen before about that..i defianately want to try that someday...like to seattle or some place...

I have a good friend that I went to college with that quit at the same time as I, and he started hopping trains and just never stopped. I run into him at least once or twice a year in some random town and we make it a point to hang out for the night. He's incredible, one of the most inspiring people I've ever met. He travels around the country by freight train, and attends these huge hobo conventions every year, where hundreds of fellow trainhoppers unite by bonfire. You have to be really careful, though, as he often talks of how dangerous the whole lifestyle is. He's met plenty of people that have fallen when they tried to jump on the train and lost a limb, and guys have tried to mug him and throw him off the train before and whatnot. But I guess in retrospect it's no more dangerous than the rest of America.

In a related story, he once accidentally stabbed himself in the ass with his pocket knife (sat on it), and since he had no insurance and couldn't go to the hospital, I took him back to my house and cleaned him right up using all of my piercing supplies from the shop. It's weird, I've put hundreds of holes in people, but never tried to close one up. It was intense, but it kinda ruled.

A squatters lifestyle.

i'd go with you astrid



[Edited on Nov 26, 2002 by DemiGauge]

i know lots of people that paint freights. i've been known to paint a couple myself. one of my passions actually. you should start taking pictures of the pieces and sending them my way.

My friend Allen just did this and had this amazing adventure and I am totally jealous. He lost his job, and his best friend and him just up and went. *sigh* But my fantasy of uping and leaving involves me going to Scotland and going to grad school there. Why don't I do this? *grumble*

xo sarah

a set of train tracks runs less than 30 feet from the back of my apartment (a converted warehouse) and I've ridden on freights on occassion to make the trip 12 blocks down to the grocery store, just for fun. I've ridden trains between towns in Texas...mostly sloooow ass movers like from the Austin area to up around Denton to visit my buddy Mike. It's hard to actually get inside most of them so I wouldn't do it much...just too slow and not very comfortable. I long for the goold Kerouacy days of open train cars and hobos (macbastard wrote a good post about this once) and free is unglamours cross counrty travel. I'd love to hitch a train ride from San Antonio to San Fran...I could read the whole way. oh and take the obligatory sips from a bottle of cheap sweet wine for ol' Jack.
V