http://mentalfloss.com/article/73281/retrobituaries-steam-train-maury-hobo-king
Why is such a lifestyle romanticized?[^o)] The man was neither classy nor believable.
It shouldn’t be. He seems more a sad, alienated consequence of bad/non-existent parenting - more an object for pity than admiration.
The only time I’ve knowingly seen a hobo I was standing on South Pepper avenue in Colton CA looking at the former Southern Pacific yard. This was some years ago, so SP might have still been in business then.
Anyway, a guy possibly in his late twenties climbed on to a slow moving freight as it haded East under South Pepper, watch by about seven raifans.
Sadly for him, the train ran around the loop and headed back towards Los Angeles, at which time he jumped off the still slow moving train.
He looked angrily up at the railfans who were pretty much falling over laughing at least partly because they had seen that the switches were lined for the loop before he boarded the train.
If you need to go somewhere, walk up to the Amtrak station in San Bernadino and buy a ticket. At least you are likely to get there safely… I think the “Desert Wind” was still running then.
Peter
Steam Train Maury was featured in a artical sometime back in Train mag. Hobos for the most part are a instresting benign part of railroading lore.