Freight Trains? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

rjtedge · 03-16-2005, 07:21 AM

I am travelling myself in 5 day. I was thinking that a cheap way to travel would be to just go the the main stations in citys and talk to some train drivers about pickng up a lift. Would this work, or has anyone tried it?

**TheJake** · 03-16-2005, 07:34 AM

dude if you can make it happen then you need to write a book about it cause every kid dreams of hopping a freight train like the hobo's of old!

I am almost positive it's illegal now.

**Sijuki** · 03-16-2005, 07:50 AM

It's always been illegal... but no one cared about it. It was one of those "in case we want to enforce it" laws. But with heightened security because we here in the States fear for our lives everyday. I am sure its a "we MUST enforce this law to every extent possible because that S.O.B. might be trying to blow up a train and kill some cows" law.

I would think you might have a better chance just hopping on a train without telling anyone period. You would have better luck going through rural areas rather than big cities probably. It's been years since I have seen someone riding a train. At night would probably work out better for ya too, as people will be less likely to notice.

**omisan** · 03-16-2005, 10:37 AM

Hopping trains is a bad idea, I'd say. I've listened to a great NPR story about this and read several articles - despite my lack of interest in doing so, the stories amaze me. Anyway...

The days of that song "King of the Road" are long gone. There still are freight-train hopping hobos, but not in the way that you'd think. Many of the freight lines in the US carry the modern hobo - generally a transient with a long criminal rap sheet, VERY territorial, and sometimes strung out. People have been robbed, maimed or killed because they got on the wrong boxcar. Some of them are almost like gangsters, with their own lingo to communicate with other hobos - if you don't know the language, buh-bye. They travel like that because they're misanthropes, so they really don't give a shit about fucking you over. Crazy shit like that.

I'm not saying you'll find this on every freight train in the country, and I'd rarely rule out some sort of travel adventure for the sake of fear, but seriously, it sounds to me like something impractical, potentially unsafe, and fairly stupid.

**kingcrazylegs** · 03-16-2005, 10:38 AM

Yea, what Sij said ^ If you are going to try it, don't ask, and don't get caught. I hich-hicked on some frieght trains (more than 10 years ago mind you) as a teenager with a buddy of mind, and we had no problem, though we did go in the wrong direction once.

Pepin_151 · 03-16-2005, 11:07 AM

Don't go train hopping dude.As cool as it is your asking for some serious trouble depending on where you live. I've done it once myself Kingston Ontario to Montreal Quebec. Let me tell you when I got caught in quebec I was in for some crazy shit,I got verbally beaten by the trainyard gaurd that caught me and then later on by the police for doing it.My parents were not impressed to find out that their 17year old son was no longer in Kingston and was in a police station in Montreal.I got off the hook as far as charges go and just got a really good talking to.I'm 21 now I would not try it again for the life of me

Tancred · 03-18-2005, 09:14 AM

I have heard about doing this overseas, but never even considered it in the states, a friend of mine, about 20 years older then me was telling me about doing it in Vietnam down the coast, but he said he accidentally overslept and made a illegal border crossing, walking into the nearest checkpoint from the wrong side without a visa from anyone usually gets you into some shit. He went on to say he had to slip a ride back over the border and hit up immigration, and said he wouldnt recommend it if it was avoidable. Personally, I prefer hitching, overseas, I.E. Cambodian/ Thailand border cement trucks are at the border all day all night, slip them 100 baht = $2.50 and hop in the back....never tried hitching around the states, what is there to see over here??