My point regarding hobos.

[Anonymous]

My point is that there have been hobos for 150 years and that there will be hobos for the forseeable future.
Every summer the nations freight rails see a number of collage students and other in search of adventure (Adeventure by defintion is risktaking)
Some stay and make a life of traveling and seeing the world first hand. Which is the best education one could get. Some teach and become professers of the road such as Jack Kerowac and Woody Guntrie. It saddens me that there are so few people that I know anymore that travel
for the sake of travel itself. The homeless that I run into these days are local people who could not quite make it but refuse to try there luck elsewere because they dont want to step out of there boundrys. The young have so many opertunitys to see the world and yet so few take avantage of them. Sure you could join the service,but how many americans take the time to see this country on there own terms.
For those that are not inclined to ride the rails I suggest that you start with the US route System by car or bike with US 1 and US 20 for starters.
The problem I have with Interstates is that they have sanitised everything in there path into one tasteless yankee pudding. The Old american railroads served every small town and gave americans a glimpz of americans back yards. As far as Amtrak is concerned is that they have realy missed a opertunity here in that they refuse to serve small and even midsized commnuitys leaving the poor and those without access to cars no access to inter-city transportation(About 20 million People are without cars in the US) and not just that but leaving tourists who are car free from other countrys such as in europe were having a car in a Luxury at 5.00 a gallon Gasoline.

[dharmon]

Your point is taken. I will concede, accept and agree that hobos and railriders have had a place in the colorful history of American railroading. The stereotype friendly hobo in his raggedy clothes riding the rails from place to place, being the king of the road, is firmly ingrained in the American psyche. That isn't reality anymore than M*A*S*H is the Army. That being said, glorifying or legitimizing it to youth is wrong. It is illegal (which is the least of my concerns), and dangerous...with death, injury and a host of other unpleasant potential results, awaiting the unwary. I agree that an adventure has a certain degree of risk to it, but I wouldn't tell a kid, hey run down to Compton and score some crack, it's a once in a lifetime adventure....cause it just might turn out that way. Using Amtrak's service or lack thereof is no excuse to hop freights. Nor is a legitimate argument to say that the railroads need to allow undocumented or migrant workers ride to get to work. Freight cars are to carry freight. Passengers are not freight. There is no inalienable right to tresspass, steal (which is what it is) transportation service, or endanger train crews in the course of acquiring transportation

I agree that that the interstates have become a modern day trail of tears with sterile tourist traps and Stuckey's . Unfortunately, except for the communities that have chosen to build up around the RR tracks and complain about noise, most areas around RR yards tend to be in areas that even the traincrews don't like being around in at night. So, unless a young adventurer has a desire to be robbed, rolled, and possibly physically violated and/or killed they'd be better off hiking the Appalchian (sp) Trail to see America. Still an adventure, and not as likely to end up on deadtrainbums.com.

[Anonymous]

Stuckeys? They used to be out here in ohio and new york,,,My Mouth is watering for a peice of Pecan PIE..
Were can i find a Stuckeys?
The reason I ride trains is that I dont drive and i love trains. I got sick of ol railbuffs talking about the good old days when you could take a train anywere and decided to take things into my own hands and see this land that I served in theUS
Navy for. I do not encourage or discourage anyone from this lifestyle. But i wont turn down anyone who wants info either on how to ride. The fact remains that if you look into the History of railroads incorperation that they really belong to the people and we need to take them back by way of "Nationalisation". Railroads were created by Land Grants and Charters and funded by the the towns that they went thorough by way of stock subscription. It was the Robber Barrons who stole it from us and they did not call them robber barrons for nothing. I repspect your veiwpoint but it is my legal point that railroads are not really private property as they insist but Qusi-Public entitys...For More on that see my next posting.

[Anonymous]

Actually, the robber barons didn't steal anything from the Hoboes, unless the Hoboes owned shares in the railroads. To the extent the Robber Barons stole it was largely through the manipulation of communities and the stocks of their own companies and others.

As to "Nationalization" of the railroads, this would have no effect on Hoboes, it would still be just as illegal to ride freight trains without permission if the government owned and operated them. I think the railroads and trains would be a lot less interesting if the government did own them. Picture those locomotives all painted battleship grey or some other G.I. color with just a number and cars painted similarly. Take a look at how interesting the railroads of Europe are and how many issues and problems they have with their government owned railway systems that we don't many of which have chased freight away from the rails (for one thing take a look at the size of European freight cars (wagons) they are tiny and have a heck of a time competing with trucks). Also, look at some of the other negatives. For those of you disliking the idea of one man crews, the Europeans have had one man road train crews for a long time. Is that what you want?

Being a Hobo is to write your own check on the RRs account. You can only get away with it for so long...

LC

[Anonymous]

o.k. here's my point reguarding hobos. if you are not a railroad employee, you have no reason at all to be on or around railroad epuiment, or even on the right of way. If people want to ride the rails so bad they can either buy a ticket, or get a railroad job. Keep in mind that I am in no way bashing you, but that's just my view. We railroaders have enough to worry about without thinking people hopping our trains.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps, if you love riding trains so much, you should focus more on RIDING trains than talking about riding them, especially on a website where a good number of the members are employees of the railroad and can LOSE their jobs for not reporting trespassers. What would you EXPECT them to say to a post like that? CONDONE it? At least not out loud. The relationship between rider and worker has tended to be a quiet one, if existent at all. Just keep that in mind. Keep riding, but know the boundaries and understand the context, it's not a flag to be waving around.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

Your point is taken. I will concede, accept and agree that hobos and railriders have had a place in the colorful history of American railroading. The stereotype friendly hobo in his raggedy clothes riding the rails from place to place, being the king of the road, is firmly ingrained in the American psyche. That isn't reality anymore than M*A*S*H is the Army. That being said, glorifying or legitimizing it to youth is wrong. It is illegal (which is the least of my concerns), and dangerous...with death, injury and a host of other unpleasant potential results, awaiting the unwary. I agree that an adventure has a certain degree of risk to it, but I wouldn't tell a kid, hey run down to Compton and score some crack, it's a once in a lifetime adventure....cause it just might turn out that way. Using Amtrak's service or lack thereof is no excuse to hop freights. Nor is a legitimate argument to say that the railroads need to allow undocumented or migrant workers ride to get to work. Freight cars are to carry freight. Passengers are not freight. There is no inalienable right to tresspass, steal (which is what it is) transportation service, or endanger train crews in the course of acquiring transportation

I agree that that the interstates have become a modern day trail of tears with sterile tourist traps and Stuckey's . Unfortunately, except for the communities that have chosen to build up around the RR tracks and complain about noise, most areas around RR yards tend to be in areas that even the traincrews don't like being around in at night. So, unless a young adventurer has a desire to be robbed, rolled, and possibly physically violated and/or killed they'd be better off hiking the Appalchian (sp) Trail to see America. Still an adventure, and not as likely to end up on deadtrainbums.com.

I remember seeing the Trains Unlimited show and reading the RailNews article about railroad police. It seems like one of those mentioned the "rail gangs" which are violent gangs that ride the rails. Also, anyone remember the "Railroad Killer" (Rafael something, I can't remember his last name) of a few years ago. I agree that riding a freight train is incredibly dangerous and not a good idea (to put it diplomatically).

[Randy Stahl]

STAY OFF OF MY TRAINS, I"M SICK!OF PICKING UP BODY PARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RANDY STAHL

[Anonymous]

AMEN RANDY!!!!!!!

I hate that red 'paint' on the front of my loco

[Mookie]

To quote the late, great Ann Landers -" you have a point, but if you comb your hair just right, you can cover it".

Sorry, couldn't resist.

So put me in time-out!

Mookie

[MP57313]

A few months ago I went to a model RR museum in So Cal. The operating layouts were great! But the book store is another matter...they actually had a book for sale that explained in detail how to be a "hobo" like trainfinder22.

Even though the book was full of disclaimers and "warnings", mentioning that it was illegal, etc. it also had a lot of instructions on where and how 'weekend hoboes' (college students and office workers, etc.) could hop freights for the thrill of it all.

I am generally opposed to censorship, and I'm not shocked that this book was published.

But I do think it is irresponsible for a RR Museum bookstore to have it for sale.

[CBQ_Guy]

I travel via the Internet and cable TV.

The food, accomodations and company are top notch! [8D]

[Train Guy 3]

Go ahead and hop a train, it's just your toes, fingers, leg, arm, life...... nothing big.