Without knowing the date of the book that Murphy linked to the first post, it is hard to know whether the author is credible. If the book was written any time say in the last ten years, it sounds completely clueless. In this era, it is as if train crews have accepted the role of security police in addition to their normal work.
However, in the 1970s for instance, that was hardly the case. Unions would have wanted extra pay for the extra work of acting as a police force. So, in that era, what the book is said to describe is quite true. Of course there were always exceptions. But in that era, train crews were known to treat unauthorized riders as though they had purchased a ticket. And there were indeed a lot of adventurers out to see the world in addition to the regular complement of seasonal workers and people actually seeking free transportation.
One of the greatest perils for novice riders was riding in the small gap between a bulkhead and a lumber load on a bulkhead flatcar. Depending on how the load was secured, it could slide with a slack run-in and instantly crush someone occupying the gap.
Agreed - and it isn’t only trainmen who have to deal with this. Throw in the violent gang nature of these people ( some are, others are just animals) and I’d prefer to never see one, period. Bridges and empty R/W around major terminals are filthy, dangerous places because of “them”… For some reason, Pueblo has MAJOR issues with “them”, much more than Denver.
We seem to see alot of young drifters from time to time traveling primarily north-south on the I95 corridor. Philadelphia is apparently a popular point of embarcation for these folks, most of whom appear to be in their early 20s. They frequently travel with dogs! How they manage to get Fido up on a piggyback flat, let alone ride there at 60mph is beyond me. Observing these “drifters”, both male and female, they do not appear to be truley poor. Often their clothes and backpacks are high quality and none seem malnorished. My guess is this type of rider is in it more for the thrill and the counterculture brownie points.
From a railroaders point of view, I really never cared if they rode my train, as long as they remained invisable. Of course, they do not. And next thing you know, someone is calling us to report a rider on our train. With the ball squarely in our court, we, as a crew must now endeavor to have the individual(s) removed, as to continue on raises the spector of one of these clowns getting hurt and suddenly calling on that very culture they were thumbing their noses at, to award them with a huge liability settlement because we didn’t safely remove them from their self-imposed peril. Nowdays, we have the dispatcher call the railroad police to meet us and escort the riders off the property. My understanding is that most of the time, they just check to see if they have any outstanding warrents, and if not, they turn them loose.
Had a train tonight reported with 10 non-revenue riders - when it got to the stopping point to meet the local authorities - no riders were found. However, we received a report that the train had ‘struck’ someone at a point 10 mile prior to the stopping point. Once authorities began to question the individual that was ‘struck’ it was determined that he had been riding the train and dismounted at speed, with less than optimum consequences.
Thanks for the history lesson. I might ask some of the commentaters on more recent train riders why it is necessary to demonize them to such a degree as to regard them as lower than animals? You may well not like them, but such contempt seems out of place.
Because the “modern” bums do stupid stuff that puts my crew at risk, like kicking open the rear anglecock, or playing with the retainer valve, or closing the valves between cars, because they are bored, stupid or for whatever reason they think up.
Keep in mind the train is my responsibility and anything that goes wrong is on me.
If I know they are there riding my train, and I don’t stop, and one of them gets hurt, all it takes is for their attorney to prove in court I knew they were present and did nothing to “protect “ them, such as stopping, and my carrier and myself get sued, screwed, blued and tattooed.
Thanks. Those are clear and understandable reasons. But even so, hardly justifies some of the vitriol of others on here. And is there a history of such lawsuits being won or settled for large amounts?
Hitchhiking and hoboing (ooops I said the bad word) both died in the 70s. Nobody in his/her right mind would do either today. Way too dangerous with all the nuts out there, never mind getting caught by police.
Imagine you’re a MOW super, you park your tamper and under cutter in a siding, lock em up, lock the switches at both ends, pop on the portable derails and head home.
Come back tomorrow morning to find…
Both pieces of equipment have been broken into the cabs are destroyed, every accessible piece of wiring is gone, the hydraulic tanks have holes punched in them or the hoses slashed.
The track jack has been used to try and lift and flip one of the machines, and is now destroyed, plus it is jammed under the equipment.
Someone took a spike maul left in the tamper and busted every window in both pieces of equipment, the A/C unit on the roof of the tamper is gone, someone put dirt in the diesel tanks, and the hydraulic tanks too, your portable derail is laying in the ditch, someone tried to break the locks on the switches, every gauge in the cabs have their faces smashed.
You’re a conductor on an over the road job…you tie up i
Let’s say you are on a trip to go camping by a big lake someplace, and so you are towing a camper and a boat. You stop for gas and 3 people climb into the boat, two on the top of the camper and 4 more break into the camper to ride inside.
The people inside the camper use the toilet facility in it, but the folk in the boat and on top of the camper have the same needs, but not the same facilities… uh… I hope they hung far enough over the side so that it didn’t splash back… Well… I hope they even tried to hang over the side!
Now, let’s say that the 2 on top of the camper are smoking pot and have a fight over it and, in the resulting melee, damage the air conditioner on the roof.
Let’s say you are on a trip to go camping by a big lake someplace, and so you are towing a camper and a boat. You stop for gas and 3 people climb into the boat, two on the top of the camper and 4 more break into the camper to ride inside.
The people inside the camper use the toilet facility in it, but the folk in the boat and on top of the camper have the same needs, but not the same facilities… uh… I hope they hung far enough over the side so that it didn’t splash back… Well… I hope they even tried to hang over the side!
Now, let’s say that the 2 on top of the camper are smoking pot and have a fight over it and, in the resulting melee, damage the air conditioner on the roof.
Well said, symptomatic of a changed world. As a college student 50 years ago, I hitchhiked everywhere, with never a problem. Wouldn’t dream of trying it today – nor would anyone in his right mind dream of picking up a 70-something hitchhiker who looks like me!
In the late 1960’s I spent some months working in a homeless shelter. It was located close to a freight yard and many of the people who came to us had been riding freight trains. Generally, they were a quiet group of people who followed our rules. We had to have rules as we had a big room for them to eat and sleep in and after supper the tables had to be put away and cots set up and the process reversed in the morning for breakfast. Many had alcohol problems but as long as they were not drunk that was not a problem. Some were Vietnam vets with post traumatic stress disorder and similar impairments. We had a lot of beds close together; occasionally there would be quarrels we had to police and sometimes move people around. Aside from that there were few behavior problems. Some of the guys told interesting stories about their traveling although there was a sad part to it. They did get me interested in riding trains; when the job was over I had to cross the country to go to college. I saved my money and brought a ticket on the Empire Builder.
Jack London rode the rails as drifter/hobo for some time, having travelled as far east as Ottawa, Ontario. I don’t recall if he did that after he had already become famous as a writer or if this was right after his oyster pirate days in Oakland. I wish I could remember which of his 50+ books it was…
