Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums

[KaBar]

Wutangbanger---I finally went to college, in my thirties, and got one degree as a machinist and another one, a few years later, as a nurse. I work as a registered nurse now. It pays good, about $40,000 a year, but I'm getting tired of it. Nursing is hard work, both physically and emotionally. Only really tough people can do it full-time for their whole life. It takes it out of you, for real. I've seen a lot of really bad things as a nurse, and in a way, it's worse than when I was a Marine, and a whole lot worse than when I was hopping full time. A whole lot.

[vinyl junkie]

i have a room mate who's going through the final stages of ing lots and lots of hospital rounds... i hear brutal stories all the time... that takes some balls to wade through that shit all day kabar...

 

on a happy note, i found a copy of duffy littlejohn's book today... i look forward to starting it in a few hours...

[KaBar]

Cool

 

Littlejohn is a good writer, but keep in mind, he's trying to sell books, so he sugarcoats the tramp life a lot. Well, actually, he sugarcoats hopping a lot, and doesn't touch on tramp life much. I see posts on the Trainhopping.com listserve all the time that say things like "Don't talk to bums you see when you're out enjoying the sport of trainhopping. Their stories are boring and their lives are fucked up, and they always wind up trying to bum money off of you." I don't see trainhopping as a "sport." But I like Littlejohn's book. BTW, I liked Conover's book, "Rolling Nowhere," too. Read both, but take them both with a grain of salt. Littlejohn sugarcoats hopping, but Conover makes it sound too bleak and depressing and pointless. It's sort of a cross between the two. Some bad, some good. Check it out, you'll see.

[wutangbanger]

no dought u should be a nurse in a big city you get paid like twice as much as that buts its crazy seeing shit alot like people gettin shot up n shit seeing that shit takes mad balls props to u kabar

[KaBar]

Marking Up

 

Indianarail---Sorry, I'm afraid I can't cast any light on the mystery. There are a lot of tramps that are essentially local travelers that "mark up" their "territory" just for something to do. There are some homeguards that do this too, of course, and the fact that you seems to be finding this tag in a relatively select area and on structures rather than railcars indicates to me it might be a homeguard or a tramp who moves locally, or it might be somebody like a railroad worker or a bridge inspector, etc..

Traditionally, trainhoppers and true tramps mark up with either soapstone, chalk, or a construction crayon. They did not tag in paint, back in the old days, mainly because it costs too much and is inconvenient to carry around cans, brushes, etc. The fact that the author of "Has No Boble" marks up in brushed paint points to a homeguard with a car or some other form of transportation (bicycle, etc.) rather than a tramp carrying a ruck and a bindle. Dealing with brushes, paint, thinner, etc. is way too much hassle and expense for the average rail tramp. But there's really no way to be sure.

[KaBar]

Hittin' One Rolling

 

I'll spare you the lecture about avoiding rolling rail cars. You didn't ask about that, you asked about boarding a rolling car. Personally, I have jumped rolling cars of various kinds in the past, when I was much younger and stronger. It's dangerous as a motherfucker, and I'd never do it today, but here's how it's done.

First of all, all the basic trainhopping rules apply--so go back and read a bunch of these posts on this thread. Travel light--25 pounds maximum for everything. Wear good boots with a pronounced heel--it tends to keep you from putting a foot through the stirrup and into a wheel. Always wear leather gloves, EXCEPT when using the swing-up technique--I use trucker's gloves I bought at Wal-Mart for $9. NEVER hop when you've been drinking.

 

Okay. Depending on the type of car, you use a different technique. Open old-style box cars are getting rarer and rarer. The new-type, called plug-door box cars are no good to hop. The doors have to be closed and locked before the train can move--it's a Federal law. So assumming you can spot an old style box car, the first thing is be sure you can outrun the car. You said "slow moving", so I'll take that to mean a slow trot, but faster than "walking speed." Say five to six mph.

Second thing, throw your gear into the car. Once you throw your gear, you are pretty much committed to jumping it. If you miss, don't panic, just board another car farther back and run up and get your shit at the first opportunity, or just board that car when it's standing.

You need a car facing the right direction for the side of the train you are on. The latch handle is on the bulkhead, not the car door. The door should be close to completely open. Running alongside the train car, grab the door latch firmly with both bare hands, and swing up your legs so that one or both are inside the door track, then twist to the side so that your torso follows your legs into the door. Don't let go of that handle until your legs and butt are all the way inside, then keep a grip as you roll over onto your stomach and throw your inside arm out to try and catch the floor.

PRACTICE THIS MANY TIMES ON A STANDING STILL BOXCAR until you feel very familiar with the technique. If you just think to yourself "Ah, that's not hard. I can do it. Fuck practicing it," you are going to wind up with your fucking legs cut off. PRACTICE THIS MANY TIMES ON A STANDING BOXCAR. This is a dangerous technique if it is raining or icy. If you slip, it's "Adios, unfortunate person."

 

DO NOT run up to the boxcar door, throw in your shit, and then jump up landing with both palms down against the floor, with your legs swinging up underneath the car, hoping to do a sort of College-boy Swing up into the car. If you swing back under the car and slip, it's STRAIGHT INTO THE FUCKING WHEELS. And you will be a picture on Rotten.com. "Legless Dumbass Cut In Two."

 

I don't like hitting rolling boxcars. It's much better to board them standing. MUCH, MUCH BETTER.

 

Hitting a rolling container well car, grainer, flatcar or lumber car, you can use the ladder. Throw your shit on, then run alongside and catch the ladder railing with your inside hand, then jump it, swinging your OUTSIDE leg up onto the stirrup, grab the grab bar with your other hand and climb on up. Be careful to not put your foot through the stirrup and under the wheels.

 

MAKE SURE you know what kind of car you are jumping. A TTX 48 container well car is no problem. It has a steel deck and usually several feet of empty well deck to ride on. A TTX 53 car, however, is NOT RIDEABLE. It has NO FLOOR and the steel girders in the bottom of the car are NOT SAFE TO RIDE. A friend of mine told me a story about a tramp he knew that hit a TTX 53 in the dark, mistaking it for a TTX 48. When he threw his gear over the gunnell, it went straight through onto the ground and got run over by the train. Bummer.

 

"Never ride the blinders, the bumpers or the deck."

 

Also, never ride by hanging onto a ladder. You have no way of knowing how far that train may take you. It could be five miles or fifty thousand. You just don't know. If you get tired or fall asleep, you're dead.

 

Now. Go to "DeadTrainBums.com" and use the passwords "Dead" and "Bums". This is what happens if you fuck up!

[Guest $$$$]

i really thank you alot for that.... but i've got another question (quest for knowledge kills), i presume a empty box car would be better than a full car to hop on to right? once i'm in, how do i stay in? i read the above post called "positioning for safety" but some of the words are just over my head. thanks alot

 

ps if theres anythign i could do for you or answer id be glad to help

:) :)

[KaBar]

Try Reading The Tramp Posts First

 

$$$$$---Try reading the tramp posts first, but if it still isn't clear to you, post a list of words you don't understand and I'll give you a definition or something. I hate to sound like a prick, but about 90% of this stuff is in Duffy Littlejohn's book, "Hopping Freight Trains in America." In fact, it's online, and the address was published in a separate thread that I sort of fucked up by getting into a argument, er...heated discussion... about prisons and criminal behavior. (It's a long story---if you can find the thread "Duffy Littlejohn Online", read it.)

 

Staying on a boxcar is a piece of cake. The most annoying thing about it is the noise. Rail cars are incredibly noisy, loud enough to damage your hearing, so along with your PLASTIC gallon jug of water, gloves, boots and a hat, be sure to bring several sets of foam earplugs. Actually, a gallon of water is minimal. I met a guy back in the day that traveled with a five gallon, USGI military, "jerry can" full of water. That's about forty pounds of water, so he wasn't jumping any moving cars. He and his partner carried it, each with a handhold on each side of the handholds on the top.

 

"Slack action" is a violent, abrupt cessation or inauguration of motion, or direction or acceleration. Each rail car has equipment underneath the frame of the car that is connected to the coupler that is called "draft gear." (This is "draft" as in draft horses, not as in wind.) "Draft" is what the motion is called when the unit (the locomotive engine) begins to pull the train forward. If the engineer applies the brakes, this is called "buff." In draft, the draft gear is stretched out. (In fact, "stretch-out" is another term for "draft.") The draft gear is sort of like a long piston that travels inside of a square box. The coupler is attached to the end on the end of the car. The draft gear can draft out about 12" to 14" before it hits it's terminal limit. Since each car has it's own draft gear, you're talking about approximately 24" to 28" of travel slack in each car. If your have fifty rail cars in the consist, that means that the unit will travel about fifty feet before the last car begins to move an inch. When the draft gear on that last car hits it's terminal limit, it goes from zero-to-twenty mph in half a second. Obviously, you don't want to be on board the last car in line.

Draft "comes down the string" as the unit gains traction and speed. As each coupler and it's draft gear stretch out, it causes a big "bang" noise. So as the unit pulls forward (and you are in the middle of the string somewhere, on your boxcar) it sounds like bam-bam-bam-bam-Bam-Bam-BAM-BAM-BAM- BANG! as your car is snatched into motion. If you are standing up when the slack is stretched out, you will be knocked off your feet, probably. A mile down the road, the engineer may have to slow down abruptly. If this occurs, you get slack action that is "buff-in." It sounds the same, pretty much, but the motion applied is the exact opposite of draft.

 

YOU SHOULD BE SITTING DOWN ON YOUR RUCK Or YOUR BINDLE, with your back firmly against the forward bulkhead, and not standing up, when this occurs.

 

Always "deadman" the door track with a short piece of 2x4. My deadman is 26" long. A foot or 18" would be acceptable, long enough so that if the door slides shut, you can still get out.

 

Stay away from the doors. "Lowline" if you want to look out. NO EXPOSURE WITHOUT PURPOSE. Don't stand up any more than absolutely necessary. Never, ever sit in the doorway with your legs hanging out, unless you think that being legless and handicapped would be cool for some reason.

 

It depends on what is in the boxcar that determines whether or not it is safe to ride. If it's plywood stacked, or something like this, then you could ride ON TOP OF THE LOAD. Never board any railcar in front of a load. Never means Never.

[Guest $$$$]

thanks alot for all your help, i think ive got alot of it down now :) :) :king:

[Deadboy]

Im curious how exactly the deadmaning works Kabar? Where exactly do you wedge it to get it to stay. Ive climbed around on gondolas before but never found an open boxcar.

[Fox Mulder]

i've never done one before but i'd imagine when people refer to painting over the bar, you would stick it in between the car and the bar.

[KaBar]

Door Track

 

Older style boxcars and most newer ones have a door track slot. It's a piece of formed steel channel that creates the door threshold and has a groove for the door to travel in. These doors are heavy as shit, and the accumulation of dirt, rust, old grease, etc. builds up in parts of the door track sometimes. The doors are hard to open and hard to shut, but the tremendous forces applied by the slack action can move the door short distances, sometimes, like if the train is thrown into emergency braking, the door might slam all the way shut. A deadman is not usually thick enough to allow "jamming" into the door track. The door track is about 2" wide and the edge of your 2x4 is 1-3/4" wide, so it usually fits a little bit loosely. Once I used a piece of rough-sawn 2x4 and I had to hammer on it a little to get it to fit.

You just place the 2x4 on edge in the door track. If the door "rattles" shut, it will stop against the deadman, and leave you an escape route.

Of course, in a crash or in a derail, or something like that, all bets are off. It's not likely a simple deadman could guarantee the door would not crash shut in a mainline meet or a derail.

 

(Edit: 12/6/02) Re-reading this, it occurs to me that placing one's deadman in the door track with the train standing still in the yard may not be the smartest move. It is not so much that a switchman or a bull might see it, although this is a concern, but if somebody else tries to board your car without your consent, YOUR MAIN LINE OF DEFENSE is sitting in the door track, where he can seize it, and either use it himself (against you) or take it and use it on another car. Truthfully, I never saw or heard of anybody doing this, but it seems altogether wiser to place the deadman surrepticiously after the train has begun to move.

 

A defensive weapon's value is determined by it's reach. Obviously a longer weapon, like an aluminum baseball bat or a longer 2x4 is going to be more effective than a shorter weapon. Also, there are some people that would not be deterred by a weapon you are unlikely to use. If an aggressive assailant grabs your 2x4 and threatens to hit you with it, and you pull a knife, he may be reluctant to get too close. (He also may not be--a club is a favorite weapon on the rails.) But if you pull a pistol, or any sort of firearm, you have introduced a trump card that is difficult to put into play. If you shoot the bad guy(s) the cops will definately be looking for you, and the pistol's report (Bang!) will attract a great deal of attention. I do not recommend carrying a pistol for the average person, only if you are READY and WILLING to use it. Women, very small men, maybe. The defensive power it gives you is so great that it may be worth it. But if you use it, you'd better be right, because if it's an error in judgement, you are probably going to prison.

[Guest Wilt]

kabar knows all....im impressed with the street level santa....rock on kabar!

[B_As_In_Bot]

Originally posted by Cracked Ass

One of the new laws is this: you can be detained if you are SUSPECTED of being a terrorist.

 

If I can elaborate on what else the new law says: If you are 'suspected' drug dealer - you are a terroist.

 

So if you peddle a little nug to you friends - make sure they are all friends.

[KaBar]

E-Mail Address

 

Optimo: Rsaxon50@hotmail.com It's bogus, of course.

[KaBar]

Plastic Mayonnaise Jars

 

I know this seems like a dumb subject for a post, but I'd like to address the difficulty of keeping important things dry and safe when you're on the road. It's not easy, when you are tramping 24/7 to keep stuff clean and dry. There is a certain size Kraft mayonnaise jar that will drop right into a 2-lb. coffee can--perfect for "nesting" to save space in your ruck.

 

I always buy the same size and brand of mayonnaise, so I've actually got four or five of these plastic mayonnaise jars around. When I've emptied one out, I wash it out real good with detergent and hot water, but I'm careful to not ruin the cardboard lid liner. I pop the liner out with a butter knife and save it, washing it off well, but avoiding getting it all wet and soggy. I soak the label off the jar and then run the jar and the lid (without the liner) through the dishwasher. If I was out on the road doing this, I'd just wash it by hand as best I could. The idea is to get all the mayonnaise and gunk off the jar, so that it doesn't grow bacteria.

 

I keep my dog chain and a couple of Z-hooks in the jar, so I won't lose them, as well as a big box of "strike anywhere" kitchen matches, a couple of Bic lighters, a sharpening stone for my tramp knife, a magnesium "survival" fire starter (this thing works like a champ), a package of sewing needles, a thimble, and a couple of spools of thread, hard candy like peppermints and Tootsie Roll Pops, a small bottle of Tylenol and a bottle of ibuprofen (Motrin), and any important papers that I don't want to get wet.

 

I just carry one jar, but if you had more stuff you wanted to protect, I don't see any reason not to carry several. In the past I used to carry pasta, like macaroni and spaghetti (broken into shorter lengths) in a plastic mayonnaise jar, too. You could just use it for just about any kind of foodstuffs that were dry, like crackers, cookies, cornmeal, oatmeal, chips, trail mix and so on.

 

One thing I would not use it for is folding currency. It might be okay for change, but if you are carry any amount of folding money, you want it hidden on you. Keep in mind though, that the bad guys know this, and they'll be looking for a money belt, etc. The main value of a money belt is to avoid being pick-pocketed, or maybe if you look pretty poor and you get robbed at gunpoint, they might take the money in your wallet, but miss a money belt. I carry important papers in an inside pocket that I sewed myself. It's designed to have a belt threaded through it, so that it is trapped between two belt loops on your pants, and you wear it by flipping it over the top of the pants so that it is riding inside. The only thing that shows is a strip of denim cloth about three or four inches long on your belt. The rest is inside your clothing, and contains your important stuff--passport, large bills, traveler's checks, etc.

 

Most tramps don't bother with this sort of thing because they don't have much money or any valuables to worry about, but there are a few who look like they haven't got ten cents, but they actually have a few bucks stashed. My homeless friends here in Houston, pushing a shopping cart full of moldy, junky crap, actually have several hundred bucks all the time, but you'd have hell getting it off of them, LOL.

[Guest Wilt]

damn it kabar....you are the all knowledgeable tramp....im proud that you're my mystical grandfather!!!:crazy:

[KaBar]

Wilt

 

Look up the stack and get my email address and send me yours. If we're gonna be related, we might as well be communicating, LOL.

[KaBar]

Water From Sillcocks

 

One of the most difficult things to find easily when you are hopping is a source of clean water. One can just go up to a house or a gas station, somewhere like that, and ask for water, of course, but most of the places I hop from are in mainly industrial areas. Likely residential or commercial sources are usually nowhere to be found.

Rail spurs frequently are routed behind large warehouse-type buildings, that often go for a block or more without many openings. Typically, there will be an access door or two, and right on the rail siding itself, a few large roll-up warehouse doors or a loading dock, but no people, and few, if any, windows.

 

BUT, I often notice small faucets spaced every so often, especially if there is landscaping or a loading dock nearby. These small faucets have no HANDLE. They usually have a recessed square shaft where the handle would be, but one cannot usually get a wrench or a pair of pliers to fit down into the recess to open the spigot. This type of faucet is called a "Sillcock." They are designed to keep people from tampering with a business' water faucets, like turning them on and leaving them on, as a prank.

 

FOLKS, you can buy a handle for these types of faucets in any hardware store. There are several different sizes and styles, and the handle that fits them is called a "sillcock key." The most common sillcock shaft is square and measures 1/4" on a side. There is more than one type of sillcock key, but the most common type has a butterfly-ears type design and a 1/4" square key hole. It costs about $2.00

Another type is "X"-shaped and has four different sized sillcock keys on it, sort of like a "X" tire tool, but much smaller, of course. One like this costs about $10, but it's worth it if you have a use for it.

If your local hardware store doesn't carry these (?) try a lawn and garden supply, a property management supply or a professional plumbing store. Tell them you have a part-time lawn maintenance business, if they ask why you want one. Nobody asked me anything.

 

Like everything else, there are some common-sense rules about stealing water from commercial warehouses, LOL. Don't drag out your sillcock key in front of any employees, the police, the security guards or any passers-by. USE YOUR HEAD. If you start drawing water from the Global Hegemonic XYZ Co. in front of some security guy, THEY ARE GOING TO SHUT OFF THE SILLCOCKS. Don't be a dumbass. Draw water when nobody can SEE you. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS shut the sillcock off and make SURE you leave no trace you have been there. DO NOT TAG OR STREAK THE WALL AT YOUR WATER SUPPLY. (Hel-LO! I don't need to tell anybody this unless they are mentally retarded or something.) LEAVE NO TRACE. DO NO DAMAGE. MAKE NO DISTURBANCE. You want to keep your water supply SECRET and UNDISTURBED. If you need to wash up or wash clothes, draw the water in a 5-gallon bucket, then carry it somewhere else to do the scrubbing. DO NOT LEAVE A MUDHOLE AT THE SILLCOCK.

 

If you use common sense and the barest minimum of enlightened self-interest, you'll be able to get clean, fresh water wherever you can find a secluded sillcock. Drink up! Free, courtesy of the free enterprise system, LOL.

[Guest optimo]

Interesting KaBar, another email awaits you :D :D

[vinyl junkie]

i actually just picked up a sillcock key a few days ago... it's good stuff, very handy...

 

anyways, i'm leaving to go traveling in a week or so... mostly hitching and freighting i think... there's a thread in channel zero called "the amazing adventures of vinyl junkie"... i'm gonna keep a log of my travels in there and try to update it as often as possible... just thought folks in here might be interested...

[vinyl junkie]

so, i have 2 things to add to kabar's thread...

first, i just read the book hobo by eddy joe cotton... i'm not sure if it's actually been released yet, but it definately will be... it was a fun read... not by any means a freight hopping manual or anything, but it was just a good read...

 

also, i would like to mention how much i love compressoin sacks... i picked one up at the army surplus... i keep a sleeping bag, a small pillow, a pair of carharts and a t shirt in one... and it all cinches down to about a square foot... it's good stuff...

[KaBar]

Bump for the info

[KaBar]

Bump Again

 

Shall we just let this thread go? There's a lot of good shit in here....

[KaBar]

Bump again for knowledge

 

Anybody got a question?

[Guest FromTheHeart]

i need a bit of a shoulder to lean ... it be appreciated if you could break this noodle down for me.

 

Im currently in the nyc area trying to head out directly West (San Francisco) .. whats to keep in mind? tactics? my worry mainly pertains to how I could make it from ny to Frisco in the least amount of time. please add any other tips or knowledge not already mentioned above (doubtable). good looking out..

[krowteN]

delta has some good rates, you may have to connect in fargo though

[KaBar]

New York City is probably the biggest problem

 

You are in the middle of the city that was radically transformed by the events of 9/11. Security is everywhere. There are numerous yards that send and receive trains from every which way. You got big trouble.

 

Personally, I would get OUT of New York City altogether and hop from New Jersey or Connecticut. I've never ridden any trains in the New York City area at all, so any information I tried to give you would be worthless. You need to find an experienced NYC trainhopper. There are a few on trainhoppers.com that ride from the NYC area.

 

Sorry. Wish I could help.

[Guest FromTheHeart]

Re: New York City is probably the biggest problem

 

Originally posted by KaBar

You are in the middle of the city that was radically transformed by the events of 9/11. Security is everywhere. There are numerous yards that send and receive trains from every which way. You got big trouble.

 

Personally, I would get OUT of New York City altogether and hop from New Jersey or Connecticut. I've never ridden any trains in the New York City area at all, so any information I tried to give you would be worthless. You need to find an experienced NYC trainhopper. There are a few on trainhoppers.com that ride from the NYC area.

 

 

thanks for being honest and for at least sending me in the right direction.

 

sidenote: enjoy your damn self at Britt. i could see myself digging those festivities after I accumalate a little experience.

[?_AJS]

ever spray a bum in the face?