Just caught the report by Bill Giest on the CBS News Program Sunday Norning on the Hobo Festival in Britt Iowa. The main irk that I have is that He made it sound like it was so easy to ride the rails and there was no mention of the danger involed or the fact that it is illegel and dangerous.
I saw that too. It made me a little nervous, but they did mention illegal - once.
I guess they wanted to do more of an entertainment/people piece than an op-ed. But a story done on the other side to balance it, would be great.
Wonder if the man who rides 6-8 weeks a year and lives in what looks to be a very nice house, will get a visit from the local authorities since he was caught on camera hopping a freight.
[%-)]
I saw it also and have the feeling it was a rerun; I believe I have seen that segment before.
I’d bet that the vast majority of those in attendance arrived by motor vehicle. Britt, Iowa, is a few miles west of Mason City and is on a line of the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. I doubt the line is all that busy. My Iowa rail tonnage map shows that segment as having 1 to 3 million tons a year, which makes it pretty lightly used.
The only railroad related shot was one of an individual getting onto the end of what appeared to be a covered hopper. That very well could have been shot on the grounds of the local elevator with permission.