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Well, err, sort of. I hoboed around the country, in the summer of 1962, after I got out of the Air Force, came home, and the old crowd was gone, moved, married, etc. Totally bored. So I left Detroit on the Wabash, headed west. Jumped on the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, in East St Louis, and headed south to Mobile. Took the L and N to New Orleans. Bummed around awhile,then moved on. Great fun if you are young, and in good shape. Wouldn't want to do it now. Got rides in locos and cabooses on many occasions. Train crews seemed genuinely concerned for our safety. Several times a friendly train crew said, "climb up in the second unit, and don't touch anything. You'll be safer there. If anybody asks, we didn't know you were there". A conductor once said, "I've got a son your age. C'mon back and ride in the caboose".Lots of F-7s E-6s, 7s and 8s, GP 9s, etc. I was standing on the platform, in Biloxi Miss, late one night, when the L&N Pan American pulled in. I noticed a dark pullman right behind the engine, and ahead of the baggage cars. It was being deadheaded somewhere. I tried the door, and it was unlocked. I quickly climbed inside and closed the door, and hoped no one had seen me. A few minutes later the train left and quickly picked up speed. I pulled a flashlight out of my duffle bag, and folded down a bed in the car and fell asleep. I woke up the next morning, on a siding in Montgomery, Alabama, after a good nights sleep. The car was sitting there all alone. I got out of the car and started walking back to the train yard, looking for another ride. I really can't recall any bad experiences. A couple of railroad dicks, took my buddy and me to breakfast one morning, at a diner nearby the trainyard. Then they drove us back to the yard, and explained that we should stay on the edge of the yard, and the trains would still be going slow enough to get on. They showed us a place to wait for a train. They explained that we should stay away from the autos, and we would be OK. That was before all the auto racks were enclosed, and theft and vandalism was a big problem. Nice guys!There were always several "riders" on freight trains, back in the 60s. And nobody was ever prosecuted for trespassing. Definately a by gone era. The worst experience I had, was in Montgomery,Alabama, when a railroad dick loaded me in his car and drove me out of the yard, and dropped me off on a desolate highway, at 3am, and told me to start hitchhiking. As soon as his taillights disappeared, I beat feet back to the trainyard, and jumped back in the train I had been waiting in, just as it started to move.Back in the 60s, you could go to any catholic church, find the priest, and get some meal tickets to a nearby restaurant. Usually it was just a small business card, rubber stamped on the back, "good for one dinner special". Interesting times, the 60s. Southbound on the GM&O, somewhere in Tennessee. [img]http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/7311/sob1si9.jpg[/img]
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