KaBar
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Crew Change Guide
One thing I don't think I've mentioned before on here is the Crew Change Guide. There is a book, a home-made, hand-xerox'ed book, called the Crew Change Guide, that is published once or twice a year by a select few tramps. I understand it is actually copywrited, but it seems to me that would be hard to enforce. I think they copywrited it to prevent a particular individual from publishing it (as he apparently threatened to do) for money. He apparently wanted to use a communally-produced CCG as a base, and edit it some, and then publish it under his own name in order to produce a source of personal revenue. This really pissed off a number of tramps in TU63, and this guy is on their shit list bigtime. They have discovered a couple of places where he jungles up and found personal notes and evidence he was trying to put this plan into action, and took steps to prevent it.
The CCG is produced by tramps, for tramps. It is not intended to be published to the general public. It is not intended to be published on the Internet. In fact, each time I have seen a copy, the guy giving it to me made me swear that I would protect it, that I would not reproduce it for sale and that I would not put it on the Internet.
As you guys know, tramps hold legal contracts in low regard. Legal contracts are pretty much worthless in the hobo world. However---if you give somebody your hand on a deal, you goddamned better well honor your word. Since I swore I would not publish it on the net, I can't give you an actual example. But I can give you an idea of what it is like.
They use abbreviations, like "SBD" is southbound, and "BTN" is between, and BLVD is boulevard, etc. PT/N or PT/S is "positioned to the north" or "positioned to the south." "GEO SBD" is "geographically south bound," which means that a train leaving the yard "WBD" might initially be "GEO SBD."
Here's an imaginary sample:
"LOS ANGELES (BNSF) TANGIERS YARD: On SE side of LA, stretching into Vernon/City of Commerce. YD is pt/s of E. 45th St. From INT E. Washington BLVD & Altlantic BLVD (a #116 Bus will get you here from the Metro Light Rail station at Pico Navarro St. coming from DT,) go S. on Atlantic BLVD about 3 BL to RRO (railroad overpass). E throat of YD is back towards W. (towards DT) under the I-522 overpass. Some trains reduce speed here as they approach the signal bridge 0.5 mi E. of you here. Long Beach bound trains do not reduce speed, and are rolling too fast to catch. If you cross the high iron (main line) BEWARE of the security camera visable on a high pole SE of the I-522 overpass. It is observing tracks that feed the HP container cargo SDTRK headed to Port of Long Beach. Stay off the gravel road next to this SDTRK. There is easy access on both N. and S. ends of the yard, but E. and W. sides are well fenced, with concertina barbed wire around the HP hot cargo yard. Trains generally S&S (stop & stand) about 0.25 mi W of signal bridge. It's an easy catch at night, be very cautious in daylight. Rumor has it that the bulls in this YD employ NVE (night vision equipment) but it is so well-lighted that this is probably not true."
Obviously, if you live in LA, this^ is a complete fantasy. I just wrote it to give you an idea of what the CCG is like, so for for pete's sake, don't write me back bitching that you can't find this mythical Tangiers Yard, and that I'm obvious a nark, or a fraud or whatever. IT'S ONLY AN EXAMPLE, OK?
If by some chance, you ever come into possession of a CCG, you are honor bound to protect it's contents. If you don't want it, you may give it away, but only to another genuine tramp, and only if you first elicit from him a promise "upon his honor" that he will not compromise the CCG. YOU MAY NOT SELL IT and you MAY NOT PUBLISH IT ON THE INTERNET. Like I said above^^^ there's different kinds of people riding the rails. Some of them are decent people with a strong sense of honor and self-worth. Some are not. BE A STRAIGHT-UP TRAMP.
Sometimes CCG's are obtainable at tramp gatherings. It's sort of a "you gotta know somebody" deal. They generally cost between $10 to $15, to cover the cost of xeroxing them.
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The Farm
Did you know that "The Farm" is a famous hippie commune in Tennesee? It's been there about forty years. Now days, the commune members are like groovy members of the Board of Directors, and the hippie commune actually has employees that were hired from the local community. So much for communism, eh? LOL. They farm organic crops and shit like that.
Okay. You need to READ THE WHOLE THREAD, but I'll make it easier for you. You can get a railroad atlas from Desk Map Systems, Inc., 3636 Executive Center Drive, Suite 150, Austin, TX 78731, or try 512-346-9330 or FAX 512-346-9332 or www.deskmap.com.
It's called the "Professional Railroad Atlas of North America, 2nd Edition." And it costs like $74.95 + shipping and handling.
The First Edition is a little less cool, but it will definately do the job, for only (reduced price now) of $25 or so. I bought the 1st Edition and then got the 2nd Edition later.
You definately need to read Duffy Littlejohn's "Hopping Freight Trains in America." dlittlejohnZRP@zianet.com $18.80 from Zephyr Rhoades Press, P.O. Box 1999, Silver City, New Mexico 88062-1999, or call him at 505-534-1888 or FAX at 505-534-2888.
The last document that would really come in handy would be a copy of the samizdat, underground-printed "Crew Change Guide." To get a CCG, you gotta know somebody. They go for around $10-$15 because they are hand-xeroxed. It is basically a report of trainhoppers first-hand on-the-ground intelligence about rail yards, junctions, crew change locations, bus routes to get there, costs, local landmarks and businesses and so forth. It's sort of like a military intelligence report, only for hobos. Before a TU63 tramp will give or sell you a CCG, they must know you are completely trustworthy, or at least pretty much so. It's a matter of honor--it is never, ever, ever published on the internet. It is passed from hand-to-hand, and only to people who can be trusted. So of course, everybody wants one, LOL.
Either you are are stand-up guy---a "straight-up tramp", or you're not. If you are, you take this shit to heart. If you're not, well---you're not. Simple.
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B-as-in-Bot
Sorry it took so long to answer your questions---I laid out a couple of days due to problems here locally---my mother is very ill.
Yes, I have had to defend myself a couple of times while tramping. Actual physical attacks are rarer than someone trying to rip you off or hoodwink you in some way. Sorry to say, there are a lot of people out there who have absolutely no compunction about lying, stealing, cheating, etc. From their point of view, it's a "me first" world. They intend to get their needs met, and if it is at your expense, tough shit. They lack the necessary world view and sense of honor (I guess--what else can one call it?) that says "I take care of my own self, I make my own living, I don't need to rip off other people, or steal, or lie, or be dishonest." Many times, this takes the form of somebody becoming your "buddy", and then whatever you have, becomes whatever we have. Until you run out of money, or booze, or whatever. Then suddenly your good buddy is no longer such a pal, and moves on to fresh pickings. Basically, he mooches off you until you run out of money or food or whatever.
A lot of tramps have adopted the idea that it's "One for All, All for One." So they actually feel entitled to whatever you have. If they have nothing, but you have $200, they honestly think you should give them half. Of course, when they have money (and sometimes they do) they are more than willing to give you one of their last two bucks. If you feel that this is a fair deal, by all means, join right in.
But you'll find that if you resist this magnanimous share-whatever-you-got deal, and they suspect you have money, they will get pretty damn pissed off and think that you are a liar and a cheat and by God, they ought to just kick your candy ass and TAKE THEIR SHARE of your money, you cheap-ass, stingy pussy.
Another real problem is the "Go ahead and leave your gear here, nobody will bother it" routine. Yeah, right. YOUR GEAR GOES WHEREVER YOU GO. Don't ever let anybody try to talk you into leaving it anywhere. The classic line (tramps joke about it) is "Hey, new guy, cool scanner. Let me see that for a minute." Not only no, but fuck, no. Nobody needs to even know you own a scanner. It's NONE OF THEIR FUCKING BUSINESS. And be ready to back it up.
If you are a member of a genuine crew, and you guys are equal partners, and know each other, maybe that's different. In an equal-partners crew, when Billy Bob shows up (again) without any money, or any cigarettes, or whatever, you can take his ass to task. "You mooching fucker! Don't you ever come out here to catch out with us again unless you have your own goddamned cigarettes! Do you hear me?"
No, I have never seen any genuine hard-ass violence on the rails. I saw a streamliner get thumped once, but it didn't amount to much. It was really pretty pathetic. I've seen the usual run of fist fights. I have run across people who had been robbed, and also raped. I've met people who had an old, healing stab wound from a drunken fight over a girl. And a very well-known tramp, Frog, lost his leg after it was broken in a fight with a bunch of punk kids and it never healed right. Those kids would be wise, if they knew about it, to disappear. But they don't, so they are probably hanging out right in the same area, completely unaware that payback might be coming.
There are a lot of assholes out riding the rails. And there are also a lot of decent people out there too. You can't be a candy ass and not get taken advantage of. You got to stand up, and set limits and boundaries, and not be afraid to say "No thanks," and mean it.
Trainhopping is going to shit. Things are more technologicall than ever. In ten years, freight trains may look like Amtrak. No place for people to hop, and the engineer will be a fucking robot, guided by computers and GPS. It's a sorry ass state of affairs.
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Very Interesting List
Sort of looks like the terminology section of a modern-day book on hobos. Truth be told, I've only heard a fraction of those words actually used by the tramps I know, but it's still interesting. A lot of them date from the pre-World War II period, and the last part of the Great Depression, I think.
I enjoy knowing things like this ^^^, but somehow or another, it causes a sort of resentment from other people. I've never quite figured it out.
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ctrl+alt+delete
It's been quite a while since I was in Spokane---about twenty years now, I guess. As you get older, you tend to move around less and less. Having a stable career has really put a dent in my travelling about. Good for one's bank account, bad for one's soul.
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Heard From Tex
Tex, Oops and Emma all arrived at Collinwood Kid's place in East Cleveland, Ohio earlier this week and are busy helping Collinwood clean the place up. (Collinwood is a notorious dumpster-diver of great renown and skill. He dumpster dives computers and stuff like that.) Collinwood has a large quantity of "perfectly good" kitchen ranges, washing machines, refrigerators, etc. stored in his driveway and back yard, all stuff he obtained dumpster diving. His enormous collection of valuable stuff keeps people busy categorizing it, moving it about, etc. So Tex, Oops and Emma are all up there squaring away Collinwood's treasures. (Why, I don't know. As soon as they clear a space, he goes out and "rescues" some more shit.)
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Damn Vandal
Try www.gandydancer.com. Go to "Other Producers from Pentrex" It's actual title is National Geographic's "Love Those Trains." It also has some brief shots of Steamtrain and other tramps a few years ago at Britt.
Trust me, this video is for sale at this site SOMEWHERE. It costs like $29.95 though. I received it as a gift. Gandy Dancer sells about 500 train videos, or something like that.
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Amory Railroad Days festival a success
I just heard from Texas Madman, who reports a total of 35 tramps and hobos arrived at the Amory Railroad Days festival in Armory, MS. He says it's the first time in eight years that it did not rain during the festival, that nobody got in trouble, and that a grand time was had by all.
He especially complimented the food, and says that the local cafe owners (one cafe, two owners) have "adopted" he hobos. Several tramps apparently worked at the cafe during the festival, providing extra hands to help deal with the increased business, and taking their pay in meals. The cafe also fed the assembled hobos at least one meal, down at Hobo Corner in Amory's Frisco park.
Tramps that attended Amory (many of these people are nationally known or even internationally known hobos):
Miss Charlotte
MAD Mary
Grandpa Dudley
Stretch and Burlington Dog
Texas Madman
Steamtrain Maury Graham
Wanda
Knotman
Namakogin Kid
Red Dust
Milwaukee Mike
Leo the Limper
Hobo SLC
Redbird Express (King of Hobos 2003)
Lady Nightingale (Queen of Hobos 2003)
Liberty Justice
Brender
Get Along Eileen
Be Gone Norm
Katy Flyer
Rock Island Red
Doodle Bug
Pearl from Indiana
Dickie Miller
Loco Larry
Redlight Kramer
John John Bellow
Ohio Tom
Collinwood Kid
Bojangles
Virginia Slim (this guy has the best accapella tenor I've ever heard--find the National Geographic video "Trains"--Slim is the last shot on the video, he sings "I've Been Everywhere.")
Hobo Spike
Oops
Emma
Lady Marie
This may not be a complete list. Tex, Stretch, Burlington, Emma and Opps are headed towards Memphis via freight train.
Man, I sure wish I could have gone. Unfortunately, my mother is in Intensive Care and I needed to stay here with her and my family.
Sounds like they had a good time, though.
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Obviously, people who use a psuedonym on the Internet do not want their actual name to become known to the world. There are plenty of young hackers on 12 oz. who could figure out people's real names, I suppose, and cause them grief. I'd prefer to keep the anonyminity of my handle. Other than that, I feel pretty sure you can tell the difference between information likely to be a problem and information unlikely to be a problem. Exercise good judgement, and be a stand-up guy, that's all.
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Alka-Zelter
You can quote my stuff for school if you wish, so long as you agree that you will not use anything I wrote to make trainhoppers, hobos, tramps or graff writers look bad. People always seem to take anything written about hobos or trainhopping and twist it to make the entire thing look sinister and anti-social. This is far from true. Even the guys riding the colors for FTRA are not monsters. They just choose to live a lifestyle that uses a different set of rules than the rest of society. The One-Percenter bikers are the same way. They are very much obedient to the rules that they accept. It's just that outside of that subculture, these rules seem sinister and dangerous.
For instance, both 1%ers and guys in the FTRA place zero value on legal contracts and normal business agreements. I have seen $10,000 motorcycle sales conducted on nothing more than a handshake. YOUR WORD IS YOUR BOND. If you promise to purchase a motorcycle from a Bandido for $10,000, on the appointed day, if you don't show up with the money IN CASH, you had probably better be headed for a foreign country, because the penalty for failing to honor your word is considerably more severe than a lawsuit.
Among regular, normal trainhoppers this is also true, to a lesser degree. If you promise to do something, and fail to carry out what you agreed to do, or if you violate a trust of any kind, the result can be very unpleasant. The minimum you can expect is to be permenantly banned from camp, and your reputation ruined forever. I know of a tramp who allegedly stole from people who trusted him, and the coast-to-coast social vendetta against him has been ongoing for some time.
Someone who intended to misuse what I write on 12 oz. is unlikely to ask permission to do so. I trust you will do the right thing.
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Eric made a lot of enemies over the years, and yeah, you're right, he is pretty wierd. Several people I know "broke in" with the FTRA, but no longer ride with them. They ought to know. I avoid them for the same reason I avoid the Hell's Angels and the Bandidos. If you hang around with them long enough, eventually something bad will happen.
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FTRA
There is a lot of rumor and boogey-man bullshit perpetuated about the FTRA. They've been around quite a long time. Founded in Libby. Montana, in a bar, in 1988, they started out as a self-protection organization for hobos faced with aggression from gang bangers, local thuggy kids, redneck assholes and so on. Originally, the story goes, FTRA was made up mostly of "Vietnam veterans." This isn't very likely, but there might have been some Vietnam vets, anyway. Rather quickly, the organization began to attract ex-convicts, scam artists and so on. Like their philosophical brothers-in-arms, the 1%er motorcycle clubs, it's less about train riding and more about getting by without working. Basically, you'll almost never see an FTRA guy working day labor. Running drugs, yeah. Squeezing welfare payments out of three or four different counties (or ten, or twenty) yeah. Stealing shit, yeah. They "ride the circuit" and collect welfare benefits in places all over the country.
They do not have the clout and organization that a group like the Hell's Angels or Bandidos does. They do not stake out a particular town or area of a city and claim to be predominant, but they do ride certain rail lines and try to dominate them. They lack personal mobility (no cars, no motorcycles, etc.) They try to blend in with the tramp and "homeless" population, but at the same time, they wear clothing that makes them readily identifiable--"gang colors," if you will. A good example of FTRA behavior is someone who looks homeless, has a dog, carries a light pack and a sleeping bag, but is carrying a large sum of money, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of dollars, in cash. He will always be armed, either with a goon stick, a knife (or both) and often with a pistol. FTRA members travel in small groups, rarely less than two, sometimes as many as six or eight. Like 1%er bikers, they often share "ol' ladies" or have a "mamma" who sleeps with anybody from the organization. This is sort of a groupie situation--the FTRA provides drugs, alcohol and force protection, the girl provides sex.
http://www.ftra.org/TrampCam/BoxcarBertha.html
FTRA members share pretty much everything in common. There is no such thing as "private" property. In a sort of bizarre spin-off of the old Frisco circle, everyone who associates with them is required to pony up whatever resources are available all the time. A well-known story about them is that a "yuppie" hobo who wanted to ride the rails with the real McCoy hooked up with the FTRA. He smoked dope with them, got to be pals, and rode some trains. The FTRA doesn't dumpster-dive, they have plenty of money. He is sitting around the campfire, eating their steaks and drinking their whiskey, and they decide to do another beer run. Everybody just opens their pocket and throws down their money. The yuppie pulls out his wallet and like leans way back, so nobody can see what's in it. This is a gross insult to the FTRA guys. He's eating their steaks! Drinking their whiskey! So they just beat his ass right there and take all his money, his equipment, whatever they want. Fuck him. He ain't a bro--he's a sorry-ass cheapskate yuppie.
If you hang with the FTRA, you are riding the tiger.
NEVER disrespect a girl or woman travelling with FTRA members. It could very easily get you killed. There are very few women willing to ride with people like the FTRA. If you insult one, or harm her in any way, they will hurt you for real. This is a big ego booster to the girls. Keep your distance from their women, seriously.
They attack en masse. If you get into a fight with the FTRA it is "One on all, All on one." They will take on any number of attackers cheerfully, and think nothing of the entire group stomping the crap out of one single adversary.
Like the 1%er bikers, they have a "prospect" process. To join, you must prove you are worthy and dedicated. Often this requires that one commit a crime, so that the organization "has the goods" on you, and if you fail to do what is required, or if you inform, you will be facing them ratting you out for the crime. If one informs to the police, you are a marked man.
I have met several members and "ex-members" ("Once in, never out.") of the FTRA. They were nice guys, and generous. The problem arises if you are vulnerable to them. I carry a knife, a deadman and a pistol. It is a somewhat false sense of security, because if I had to defend myself, most likely the next stop would be jail. One-on-one, they are okay. If they are drinking or drugging and in a group, LEAVE and go somewhere else. If you are not a member or a prospect, you are a potential target. DO NOT ACCEPT FAVORS FROM THE FTRA. It makes you "obligated", in their eyes.
The "real" FTRA no longer exists. In the 90's, the heat got so bad that they took off their colors (they wear a bandana rolled "cowboy style" with a silver concho as colors) and went underground. Many of them were arrested and sent to prison after the Sidetrack Murders. However, there are a lot of "Sinner's Camp" hobos who have that bad ass 1%er attitude who are still riding trains. You'll know these guys when you see them. They are hard asses--hard drinking, hard-fighting, drug-using haters. Many of them act and talk like convicts. They look a lot like 1%bikers and most of them are racists, because of serving time in prison. This is not to say "all" of them, because not every FTRA member fits the above generalization, but many of them do.
The "unofficial" FTRA web site is http://www.ftra.org/welcome/hpl.
Use "ftra" and "ftra" as passwords.
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The Hell's Angels MC is concentrated mostly in the California-Nevada area and the New York area, with some penetration down into the Deep South.
The Bandidos MC was founded in Houston (the "Mother Chapter" is here in Houston) and they very aggressively moved north and east into Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas, Alabama, South Dakota and so on, trying to cut the U.S. "in half" to prevent the HA's from effectively controlling the central part of the U.S., in terms of 1%er motorcycle clubs. They also moved into the Washington State area and some parts of Oregon.
Both these organizations have affilliated clubs (The Bandidos have the Amigos MC, Honchos MC, Mongols MC, etc.) They have a strategic alliance with the Outlaws MC, long-time enemies of the Hell's Angels.
Not too long ago, there was a big fight between Hell's Angels and Mongols in a casino in Reno, NV. The rumor I heard was that these particular Mongols were trying to make their bones with the Bandidos, and they were sent to attack the HA's. The HA's won the fight, but lost several members trying to retreat back to California--supposedly there was a running gun battle on the highway. I don't know--it's just a rumor.
The HA's are in big trouble. They have been bullying smaller clubs and treating people like shit for years. They only have around 800 members, total. The Bandidos, on the other hand, while very ruthless about business, tend to let smaller clubs "affiliate", keep their colors (patches) and their pride, and become "allies" (subservient allies, of course) with the Bandidos. By doing this, the Bandidos have built a very large and powerful organization. The HA's have always been extremely tough, and very select, which translates as "small." The Bandidos have been building alliances and plotting on being #1 for a long time. Eventually, there's going to be a Big Showdown, and the HA's are going to be in some deep shit.
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GhostVandal
Both good questions. The first one "How do I take a dump if I'm on a boxcar?" is pretty obvious. Always take some cardboard, or railroad plastic or Thousand-Miler Paper with you whenever you hop. Take a dump on a chunk of the cardboard, then carry it carefully to the door and pitch it out without getting any on you. A package of "Baby Wipes" is a good idea in addition to plenty of shitpaper. They come in a small plastic dispenser, and they are good for cleaning your hands and face, as well as personal hygiene after taking a dump and using regular shitpaper. Having a raw, itchy ass is hell when you cannot take a bath or shower.
I know you guys will laugh like hell at this last information. I didn't learn that riding trains, though, I learned it in the Marines. Spend a month in 29 Palms, California without a bath, running up and down desert mountains in the same stinking, filthy set of cammies and shitting in the open and you'll get creative about ways to attain a high degree of personal hygiene. (How does it go? "Please Believe.")
As for personal shelter, a little two-man pop-up tent would be great. I never carried one back in the day, but I do carry one now. I have also rigged rain shelter from scavenged Visqueen plastic from dumpsters, Army rain ponchos, tarps that blew off of loads on rail cars and so forth.
ONE OF THE ABSOLUTELY BEST SURVIVAL TRICKS I EVER SAW---I learned a month or so ago from Texas Mad Man and Stretch. They found a large inflatable packing bladder used to cushion a load of red bricks alongside the tracks here in Houston. It made a great air mattress, then they cut it open and it made a great sleeping bag, then they completely removed it's paper cover and made it into a large plastic tarp by cutting down three of it's four seams. VERY tough plastic, and durable as all hell. It could easily save your life in cold weather, especially as a "sleeping bag" with a couple of blankets.
Carry 505 shock cord wherever you go. It is great survival stuff, cheap, and lightweight. You can use it to rig a tarp or tent anywhere. I met one guy who wove a hammock out of thin shock cord. You can attach it to a piece of plastic or a tarp by placing a rock on a corner on one side, and "pushing it through," then tying shock cord or rope to the OTHER side, "trapping the rock" within the plastic. I did this once in the face of a big thunderstorm blowing in off the Pacific. My girlfriend was freaking out. I used our four bootlaces and a large piece of Visqueen to produce a storm-worthy shelter in about ten minutes. I tied the bootlaces to the limbs of a small tree, making a little tent. We jumped inside, got in our sleeping bags and pushed the loose edges of the plastic sheet underneath the weight of our bodies just as all hell broke loose with the storm. Lightning crashed, it rained like a motherfucker, flooded all around us (we were on high ground) but we barely got damp. My girl looked at me with shining eyes and said "You are the most resourceful man I have ever met in my life." Too bad I only had about twenty bucks to my name, LOL. That was a good day.
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LungFactory
Well, thanks, bro, it's always nice to hear a compliment. Truthfully, though, the information on here is not really all that unique or anything. Most of it is readily available from other sources. Look up the stack for the address for Duffy Littlejohn's book "Hopping Freight Trains in America." It's a great book--the information is absolutely required before anybody attempts a long-distance hop.
There is a class of trainhopper called a "forty-miler." I never appreciated this when I was younger, but now, as a confirmed adult, it makes a lot more sense. These guys travel back and forth between two places that they know well. They like riding trains, but they don't want to go long distances for one reason or another. So they just ride forty miles or so to the next junction or yard, get off, and then ride back.
I used to feel sort of superior and disdainful towards them, I thought they were just barely a cut above "homeguards," but I understand their motivation a little better now that I am older.
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Heard from Backwoods Jack
Hey, I got an email from Backwoods Jack, from Litchfield, Illinois. He says he's going to try to make the Amory gathering. He also said that some idiot bow hunter shot his dog, Patches, in a deliberate attempt to kill him. (Apparently Patches survived the murder attempt.) It would be great to see him again. Man, the guy has GREAT HATS. I never met a man with such crazy fucking hats as Jack. The last night at Britt he showed up at the campfire with a huge Mexican sombero. The thing looked like a tent!
Anybody from Litchfield? Jack owns an auto junk yard there.
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STRETCH
My mother is ill, she is going in for a heart-valve replacement on Monday, 3/24/03. This may screw up my plans to come up to Amory early, but I'm still going to try to make it. If Mom is doing okay, and we have plenty of nursing care from my sisters and other family and friends, I'll try to be there just like I planned. I haven't heard back from Derek, I don't know if he's coming with me or what.
Tell Tex howdy, give old Burl a "tweat" for me.
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WISEGUY
I've been kind of interested to discover whether hopping is common in other countries as well. In Peru, they used to let the poor people ride the decks (the tops of passenger cars) for a few cents paid in cash (no ticket) which, I suspect, went straight into the conductor's pocket. Hopping freights is very common in Mexico (it's a major method of illegal immigration into the U.S.) but since the 9/11 attack, the U.S. security on the southern borders has just gotten extremely tight. There was also an incident where two FBI agents investigating cargo thieves on the very edge of the border area (like 200 meters from Mexico) were attacked and beaten, disarmed and dragged into Mexico itself. Since that occurred, you can't spit on a Sunset Route train without hitting the FBI. We hear tramps complain about being thrown off trains and/or arrested for trespassing by squads of heavily armed INS agents, Border Patrol officers and FBI agents.
There are a couple of other Aussies on 12 oz. that talk about riding trains there, but in general, they don't sound very optimistic. I bet it's possible, but considering the extreme weather conditions found in the Australian outback, you'd better be a DESERT SURVIVAL EXPERT if you get on an Australian train headed into the outback. If you were to get "set off" out in the middle of nowhere (perhaps if the train crew was unaware of your presence) you'd be in big trouble. When headed into the West, American hobos carry lots of water--several gallons is minimum. I once knew two tramps who carried a big plastic 5-gallon military water can, which weighed about 40 pounds. No matter where they went, they had water.
Before I caught out in Australia, I'd THOROUGHLY RESEARCH TRAIN ROUTES, MAPS, SCHEDULES AND CREW CHANGE POINTS. There is an American book (a hand-made book) called the Crew Change Guide. Copies of this book are extremely rare. You might consider taking copious notes, and printing an Australian version of it. It includes routes, companies, stops, crew change points, yard locations, buses and IRT trains that service the yards (what city bus or subway or El train to take to reach a certain yard), costs and so forth. Most of this information can be had through rail fan magazines, clubs and publications. A railroad timetable is a very valuable asset to a railrider. It has times, scheduled trains, arrival times, etc. If you know what time you departed a particular junction, and approximately how long it should take the train to reach the next junction, you can determine where you are "now," even if there are no signs. In the U.S., there are milepost signs along the railway ballast ("MP 236", etc.) This usually tells you how many miles away from corporate headquarters one is. If corporate headquarters is in Kansas City, and you are at MP 236, you should be able to locate your approximate position on a railroad map. Assuming that you have a map, and that you know the location of the railroad you are riding. Respectively, the headquarters are: Burlington Northern Santa Fe (Fort Worth, Texas), Union Pacific (Omaha, Nebraska,) Kansas City Southern (Kansas City, Missouri) and so forth. I have no idea if this is true in Australia or not.
I think that much of the information in Duffy Littlejohn's book would be applicable more or less anywhere. Find out what laws and penalties apply in the various states in Australia. For all I know, trainhopping might be a serious crime there. Find out, before you hop.
"Hopping Freight Trains in America" by Duffy Littlejohn.
Zephyr Rhoades Press
P.O. Box 1999
Silver City, New Mexico
88062-1999
telephone 505-534-1888 fax 505-534-2888
email: dlittlejohnZRP@zianet.com
As a side note, my buddies Stretch and Texas Mad Man are headed towards the hobo gathering at Amory, Mississippi. I dropped them off at the KCS yard in Beaumont, and within fifteen minutes, Stretch had made friends with a yard worker and had an approximate departure time for their train. The world-famous hobo dog, Burlington, was happily eating dog food out of his side-saddle packs last time I saw him. Raised on a freight train, he is "most at home" in a freight classification yard. I'm going to miss them, but I expect I'll see them at Amory.
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Crackatinnie
I don't think most people would choose hopping freight trains as a primary means of transportation under normal circumstances. During the so-called "Golden Years" of trainhopping (the 1930's and the Great Depression Years, here in the States) there were very few alternatives. If you wanted to go from one place to another and had no money, you could walk, or your could hop a train. Even a bicycle was often beyond the means of the tramps of that period. If they had one, they'd probably try to sell it for food money. (This is why so few tramps are armed with firearms--they are just too valuable as pawn items. Better to have $100 in your pocket that you need desparately than a pistol that you might never need.)
If I lived in Australia, I believe I would be a sailboater. I've often considered building a welded steel sailboat. My Dad had a friend who built one in his back yard over a period of about five years. It was a 54-foot ketch, all built from re-cycled 10 gauge steel plate and angle iron. It was a beautiful boat--you'd never guess in a million years that the guy that built it had such an artistic soul. He was your typical crude, redneck hill billy type, but underneath that hick exterior was the soul of a sailor. Last time we saw him, he was anchored at Chocolate Bayou, south of Houston. When we went back, his neighbor in the next slip said that he had left a few days earlier, headed for the Panama Canal.
The Gulf of Mexico would also be a pretty good place to live as an anchor-out. I've often considered it.
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Sivik
I wrote you a long reply about this last night and fell asleep on my computer keyboard about 0200, LOL. To answer your questions briefly, the reason I'm no longer an active duty Marine is that I decided that being a professional soldier was not what I really wanted to do with my life. I thought long and hard about it. Several of my friends from the Corps became "career Marines", and two acquaintances were studying French and making plans to join the French Foreign Legion--they said the Marine Corps was too tame, they wanted to go to combat and they didn't want to wait twenty years to do it. Last time I saw them they were trying to arrange passports, travel schedules, etc. They were getting close to their Marine Corps ETS, and intended to fly to Marsailles and attempt to enlist in La Legion.
The Marine Corps is a hard life for a family man. There is a saying "If the Corps wanted you to have a wife, they'd issue you one." I knew several NCO's who had "a hook" in town. Basically, their family life consisted of a long-term arrangement with an attractive prostitute. I also knew plenty of Marines (even young ones) who married their high-school sweetheart and were living in newlywed bliss---until the first overseas deployment when she is left by herself for six months or a year on a base with 40,000 young, single Marines with no girlfriend....
Most career Marines have been divorced a couple of times, drive a decent pick-up truck or sporty car, drink more than they should and are trying to make it the last of their twenty years to their retirement. A few did the smart thing and saved their money, or bought property or something like that, but most are just living from paycheck to paycheck and living the life of a professional soldier. The hours are long, the work is hard, it's lonely and once in a while, it's dangerous.
Young Marines suffer low pay until they make rank.
http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/2003paytable.pdf
Here's the U.S. military pay scale.
Hazardous duty pay is $100 a month, all ranks, all services. If you are serving in a combat zone, I think that rule doesn't apply. Everybody knows, if you join the Marines, you are serving in a hazardous area at least part of the time.
Anybody may enlist, if you meet the requirements. I served with a number of Marines from foreign countries--Mexico, Canada, Guatemala, Columbia, Phillipine Islands, UK, Ireland. The vast majority of Marines are U.S. citizens of course, including U.S. territories, like American Samoa, and Guam. It's a hard life. You earn your money, without question.
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Tex is in town too
We went up to Longview and picked him up at the Highway 80 Rescue Mission and came back down to Houston. He and Stretch and Burlington are all jungled up, up there near my favorite yard. I'm tired, that was a pretty long drive. We camped in Rusk, and took a look at the Texas State Railroad yards and facilities. It would be fun holding a tramp gathering there.
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Huh
I'm not a welder by trade anymore, but I did make my living that way on and off from 1973 or so, when I attended Todd Shipyards Welding School here in Houston, until 1995, when I graduated from nursing school. It is a trade that consistently pays a living wage, but you'll never get rich working for wages. Even a "good union job," which I never managed to land, even though I think I worked pretty hard at it, doesn't usually pay more than about $13 or $14 a hour, unless you are such a good welder you can pass the Nuclear Facilities x-ray welding tests. Those jobs paid up into the mid-$20 range back in the day. Probably more, now.
MY SUGGESTION is that if you try welding and you enjoy it (I actually enjoyed it, up to a point) MANUFACTURE SOMETHING TO SELL to others. You take steel, like pipe, channel, flatbar, roundbar, I-beam, etc. and create something of value that enhances the desireability of the "raw" materials. One of the most lucrative "redneck technology" businesses I ever saw was the airboat manufacturing business in Orange, Texas. They have two first-class wire-feed aluminum MIG welders there that are building some beautifully welded aluminum airboat hulls. Of course, the welders are working for wages, but if they can build airboats for their boss, they could build airboats for themselves.
Owning a general service mobile-welding business is a tough way to make a living. You are scrambling all the time to make ends meet. It has a lot in common with owning a tow-truck wrecker service.
Another good low-tech, "redneck rechnology" manufacturing business is building welded-steel barbeque pits and wood stoves for deer camps, etc. To build a wood stove to be placed in someone's home, it must be engineered and UL certified as fire-safe, otherwise, it voids the fire insurance on the house. You need to be real careful, because some idiot burns down his house with one of your wood stoves, then he sues you and says you built it wrong. (Nobody can take responsibility for themselves any more.)
Arc welding and oxy-acetylene gas welding both give off fumes and particulate smokes and dusts that are harmful, but arc welding is the most dangerous. Never weld in an enclosed space (like a tank car or oil storage tank) It's dangerous from both a smoke viewpoint and also a suffocation oxygen-deprived viewpoint. Always ENSURE that you have good forced-air ventilation. An open hatch won't do the job, you need a blower or at least an air hose. I welded for years with nothing more than a dust mask under my welding hood, but this was idiocy. I didn't know any better. Wear a double-filter Mine Safety respirator. They make special welding hoods to fit them. You only get one set of lungs.
All manner of welding rods give off carcinogens (shit that causes cancer), but the mud rods like 7016 and 7018, that contain a lot of manganese and stainless steel electrodes like E-308-15s contain a LOT of chromium and nickle. These heavy metals are absolutely bad for you. How many years of welding it takes to give a guy lung cancer I can't say, but the less of that shit you inhale, the better. If you are a welder, I would suggest you don't smoke cigarettes. Don't wear a beard, and always use a good double-filter respirator.
It's hard on your eyes, too. NEVER weld or tack without a hood. Check your lens every time you remove your hood or drop it, to see if the lens cracked. You'll check it a million times and it will be fine, and the one time you forget to check, it will be cracked and you'll BURN THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR EYES.
It's a tough way to make a living, but a very handy skill to know. Be careful about fire. I always worked with a helper and a fire extinguisher close by.
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Spent the Weekend kicking it with Stretch
We spent the weekend in the jungle, and man, it was cold--went down to 40 on Saturday night. (I'm sure this is amusing to you guys up north, but winter in Houston usually means weather around 50 degrees or so.) We just laid around camp, keeping the jungle fire burning, playing with the dog and watching trains. Drank up a case of beer. I am SOLD on MSR gasoline stoves. Stretch has one, and man, that is a first-class piece of gear. I'm going to have to retire my Svea stove and get one of those. We went dumpster diving Sunday morning, and then went and got Stretch a bus pass so he can get around Houston without having to walk. Burlington stays in camp, guarding Stretch's gear. That's the smartest dog I ever saw in my life.
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I heard from my buddy, Tex
He says he's living in the mission in east Texas, because the Longview police have burned his camp three times since January 1st. Seems like to me maybe that east Texas is no longer as tolerant of tramps as it once was.
I can understand them getting pushy if you were jungled up in town and causing a problem, but if you are out in the sticks and minding your own business, what's the stress about? I think there's not enough real crime in Longview to keep the cops busy, so they have a lot of extra time to bother with burning down hobo camps and worrying about people who live outdoors. What's next? Closing the border in California to "vagrants?" It's like a Woody Guthrie tune or something.
"California's the Garden of Eden,
a paradise to live in or to see,
but believe it or not,
you won't find it so hot,
if you ain't got the do-re-mi."
Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums
in Metal Heads
Posted
FTRA and Libby
It's been a long, long time since I set foot in Libby, MT. All I can say is that Libby was the birthplace of the FTRA. I doubt seriously that there is much of an FTRA presence there on an on-going basis.
The Late 80's and the 90's were the heyday of the FTRA, although they do still exist, it has been quite a while since I ran into an FTRA rider. The police pressure up on the Hi-Line and the investigations into the so-called "Sidetrack Murders" for which Robert "Sidetrack" Silveria (a self-described leader in the FTRA) was charged, tried and convicted; and the investigation and arrest of Dog Man Tony really drove the FTRA underground to a great extent.
There was a time when members of the FTRA were required by their code to wear their colors (a bandana rolled cowboy style around the neck, and closed with a silver concho) but these days I don't see anybody wearing these colors. Back in the day, the O.G.'s from the "original" FTRA, up on the BN Hi-Line, wore black bandanas. The cops even called them "The Black Bandanas," or "black bandana hobos" before the existance of FTRA came to light.
With the heat on upon the Hi-Line, they began moving west and south. The blue-bandana-FTRA began riding east from San Francisco on the old Frisco Route, the "central corridor."
The red-bandana-FTRA rode the west coast and the Sunset Route, east towards Texas and the deep South.
After Sidetrack was captured, the cops went nuts arresting anybody and everybody who looked the slightest bit capable of being a so-called "railroad killer." A lot of them went to prison for stuff like trafficking in narcotics or being a felon in possession of a firearm.
That's when the Old FTRA took off their colors. Many of them retired and became homeguards. The police hassle is their OWNED DAMNED FAULT. Tramps rode the Hi-Line unmolested by the cops for years ands years. Montana was almost a haven for tramps back in the 70's and 80's. It wasn't until FTRA became a problem that the cops went crazy arresting tramps.
Some of the well-known tramps today are "Ex-FTRA". (This is a contradiction in terms. There's no such thing as "ex" FTRA. The rule is "Once in, never out." No matter where they go, or how high they may rise in society, their old buddies in FTRA consider them "still obligated." This is a standard mafia deal, almost all gangs and gang-like organizations have this provisio.)
There is allegedly a "new" FTRA. I don't know much about them, other than that the members are supposed to be much younger. The O.G's are in their fifties now. I doubt that you have anything to fear from them. It's the younger guys, in their twenties and thirties that I would be cautious of.
This thing about the FTRA being racist is only partially true. I know a few WELL-KNOWN tramps who have good friends who are black tramps, and the white guys are (or were) FTRA. It's not so much race as culture. Inside prison, there's a race war going on, and the color of your skin is your uniform. A lot of ex-convicts have a very racist view of the world. A lot of FTRA guys are ex-convicts. It's more of a coincidence rather than an organizational principle. I have met several FTRA guys in the last couple of years. They didn't seem to be any more or less racist than any other uneducated white guy. About the same, I'd say. Which is to say, prejudiced, but not actively murderous towards minorities. I don't think they would seek out minority people to be friends with, but if they met someone who was black that they got along with, their attitude would be "No, I don't like niggers. But Tyrone is different. He's okay, he's not like the rest of them." (It's a paradox, but one with which many Southern black people are familiar.) Mind you, I'm certainly not excusing racist behavior, but you asked me if I thought you'd have trouble with them. I doubt that you would.
Probably won't even see any. A bigger fear, from my viewpoint, considering the police attitude in Montana, would be getting arrested for being in a train yard. If you get caught on a train, it's an automatic 90 days in County. Or so I've been told. Check it out, and give us a report why don't you?