Hobos, Tramps and Homeless Bums

[Pfffffffffft]

interesting kabar..

 

love the stories..

 

did you ever get that part of the jungle repaired?

[Shrink]

my boy NO is a squatter

 

 

I chill at the squat and pretty much do the same shit (dumpstering, racking) but I still live at my house and shit.

[steelill]

I have the north american professional railroad atlas third edition. It's Ok. there is some things I dont like about it. I've owned the SPV southern states and Texas(that's two different books) atlas's for a couple of years the are excellent. Now they do include dead lines marked in dotted lines. Some larger customer owned areas are included ,Big plus. I've been in to trains for years and didn't know about some of the spurs in my area till I got these atlas. I recomend them. http://www.karensbooks.com/ this site has lots of train books at good prices. That's not saying much Train books aren't cheap. Duffy littlejohns book is what got me started in hopping. Is he still living?

 

Hey KaBar I enjoy your tutorials even when there in chapters.

[KaBar2]

Thanks for the compliment--I really write this stuff more for my own enjoyment than anything else.

 

Yes, Duffy Littlejohn is still among the living so far as I know. I met him up at Britt a couple of years ago. He was up there selling autographed copies of his books and just hanging out, but I don't think he spent much time in the jungle.

 

Britt has this large sort of open-air Flea Market on the main drag around the Library and near the Hobo House Restaurant during the Convention. You can rent a "table space" and sell whatever you want to. There are a lot of craftsmen and "antiques & junque" type sales there. Also a Farmer's Market where people sell produce, eggs and so on.

 

Anyway, that's where I met Littlejohn. He was a nice enough guy, but I got the feeling his book wasn't moving too well. I think most of the visitors to Britt would rather buy some little"hobo decoration" for their kitchen than a book about actually hopping trains, LOL. We tried to sell genuine gunboats used at the convention for a dollar "donation" apiece to raise money for the Hobo Museum. I think we sold one.

 

One of the big sellers at the Hobo Museum is a cookbook of hobo recipes (sounds ridiculous, but people love it---that book has raised thousands of dollars). Stretch and I have been talking about writing a companion book for it that is all recipes involving cooking in a gunboat over an open fire.

 

A professional railroad atlas is not necessary to hop trains, of course, but it sure adds a degree of understanding about the rail lines that would otherwise be lacking. I have several mid-20's railriding acquaintences that just learned the old way---by getting on trains and riding them to their destination, and then asking around and observing until they found out how to get back again. This is a very time-consuming way to do it, but it does work. Kind of hard to do unless you are footloose and fancy-free: no school schedule, no job to report to on Monday, no girlfriend who is going to get pissed at you for disappearing for a couple of weeks, no landlord that is going to evict you for not paying rent on time.

 

If you are unemployed and on the bum, that's the perfect time to go hop trains.

[such_the_kid]

i was planning to head outon my first trip with a buddy of mine nothin far just a few miles get the feel. neither one of us has ever ridin... does anyone have any advice??

[Schnitzel]

^^^ there are only 22 pages of possible info on this thread read them you may learn something and probably enjoy the writings of Kabar.

[fakename]

This thread is amazing, Kabar's posts make for an awesome read.

[KaBar2]

Heard from Stretch again last night. He's working a construction job in Beaumont and has a jungle in some woods next to a place that makes or sells cement. He said he was making $8.00 an hour--not too bad for a job shark job. He's making contacts in Beaumont with prospective employers, so he can snag a regular job when he comes down next winter.

 

The Amory Railroad Days gathering is coming right up in April. Anybody who lives in Mississippi should definately make it. It's going to be a fun week. Everybody goes to Amory because it's the "spring opener"-- it "opens" the riding season (still pretty chilly up North, though). And then a lot of people go up to Britt every August because it's the National Hobo Convention.

 

The last few years a lot of the party-hearty guys have started avoiding Britt, and go to Tramp Fest, instead. Tramp Fest is held in a different location every year (mainly because if they go back to the same town the next year the local cops will be loaded for bear and will try to lock up any tramp they can catch.)

 

Whereas Britt definately frowns on open containers of beer (if you walk around with an open can, you are asking for trouble) because it "looks bad to the tourists" they sort of look the other way if you bring a big insulated mug with a lid. If you get caught with drugs, you are definately getting arrested and charged. That's not to say that nobody gets high at Britt, they do, but they are very discreet about it.

 

Tramp Fest is usually held in some fairly remote location, close to a rail line. Since the tramps are all out in the middle of nowhere (one year at Portage, Wisconsin they were camped out on an island in the river, which was great except they had to walk a couple of miles to buy beer) mostly nobody cares what you do, as long as you don't rub the local cops' nose in it. If you hassle the local gendarmes, you can expect to go to jail. For something, anyway.

 

Be polite. Mind your business. "Leave no trace. Do no damage. Make no disturbance." If you demonstrate a little self discipline and a proper attitude, the cops will usually leave you in peace.

[lepthebeard]

...yo KaBar2, check the 'crew change thread...got any answers for me? PM or otherwise

[rolling nowhere]

dumpster pizza and library computers.

[steelill]

The Amory Days are The 15th thru the 21st?

[stay cruel]

I've always wanted to hop a train. Ever since I can remember I've been looking for random stuff around my town to explore.. Woods, trails, etc.. My friends and I have always been into that stuff. Maybe ill try freight hopping this summer.. I'm always up for adventure, however it may be hard to do with a part-time job working about 20 hours a week.

[rolling nowhere]

I've always wanted to hop a train. Ever since I can remember I've been looking for random stuff around my town to explore.. Woods, trails, etc.. My friends and I have always been into that stuff. Maybe ill try freight hopping this summer.. I'm always up for adventure, however it may be hard to do with a part-time job working about 20 hours a week.

 

why would it be hard? quit the job and get a new one when you come home. unless youre like a part time brain surgeon or something its probably not a big deal you know?

[KaBar2]

Stay cruel---

 

If you have not read Duffy Littlejohn's book "Hopping Freight Trains in America," you definately need to read it before you attempt to catch out. I hope I'm not being overly pretentious if I say READ THIS ENTIRE THREAD. There's a lot of good stuff on here, the best of which is a certain attitude about trainhopping and living a free life outdoors.

 

There is another good book called "Rolling Nowhere" by Ted Conover (he has written several books, all pretty good) and you should read it too, as well as Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild", the true story of the life and untimely death of Christopher McCandless, AKA "Alexander Supertramp."

 

People are going to do whatever they want to do, and I fully understand that, but here are a lot of aspects of train hopping that can be somewhat hazardous. You need to learn a few things before you catch out.

[stay cruel]

Yeah I've been reading most of the stuff you've said since the beginning of the thread. A lot of interesting useful stuff. I might go down to my local library and see if those books are in, thanks for recommending them.

[rolling nowhere]

Stay cruel---

 

If you have not read Duffy Littlejohn's book "Hopping Freight Trains in America," you definately need to read it before you attempt to catch out. I hope I'm not being overly pretentious if I say READ THIS ENTIRE THREAD. There's a lot of good stuff on here, the best of which is a certain attitude about trainhopping and living a free life outdoors.

 

There is another good book called "Rolling Nowhere" by Ted Conover (he has written several books, all pretty good) and you should read it too, as well as Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild", the true story of the life and untimely death of Christopher McCandless, AKA "Alexander Supertramp."

 

People are going to do whatever they want to do, and I fully understand that, but here are a lot of aspects of train hopping that can be somewhat hazardous. You need to learn a few things before you catch out.

 

 

 

what he said...

[gonorea]

What a waste of time fuck this tread.

[rolling nowhere]

go swallow some razor blades.

[KaBar2]

You are absolutely right, "gonorea", this thread is absolutely a waste of your time. I wouldn't spend another millisecond here if I were you. Upwards and onwards to bigger and better things, my gram-negative friend. I just be Pen VK, you know? Bacteriocidal, and all like that. I can jus' be chillin', with my homie penicillin.

[twoohsickness]

This is probably the best thread on 12oz. so intresting, reading the content doesn't even get boring. I was wondering, sometimes when im in the yard i see little messages on trains that lok kinda like tags. One i saw said "jenny from ohio i think your drop dead beautiful." I was wondering if thats a tramp thing? i normally see a few on every line. You guys are killin' it!

[KaBar2]

Stretch called me from Cleveland, Ohio a couple of days ago. He is back at his old paid-under-the-table job, and camping out somewhere not too far from the job site, but I'm not too sure exactly where. He wants to get enough money together for a laptop computer that he can carry with him. After he makes a couple of paychecks, he's going to go visit his girlfriend in Pennsylvania and see Burlington, who lives there now, with her dog.

 

The hobo gathering at Casey Jones Village in Jackson, Tennessee is coming right up.

 

HOBO GATHERING

Casey Jones Village

Jackson, TN

Friday, April 27

Saturday, April 28

If you live anywhere close to Jackson, Tennessee, you should go, It's always a lot of fun.

[serum]

Kabar, what do you think about jobs with the union pacific?

is it a good company to work for? or is it taboo for hobos?

just curious because i was offered a job in train service

[rolling nowhere]

id jump on that job.

i wanted a railroad job but graffiti pretty much ruined that for me.

[sloth loves chunk]

sometimes i'll run into people while i'm walking the tracks and i always wonder if they're a train hopper. is there any good way to ask? i've always wanted to see what people think of my area.

[twoohsickness]

i talked to a dude the other day, he was definatly not hyped on my asking, but he talked to me for a minute. Nice guy.

[KaBar2]

Railroad jobs with a major railroad that is union pay very well. Some of the smaller branch lines are non-union. I would avoid those. Working for the railroad means that you will be working long hours, often away from your home and family, under all kinds of shitty weather conditions. It also means you will eventually earn a railroad pension, you'll have great benefits, and the pay is pretty damned great for an industrial job.

 

It is a physically demanding job, and can be kind of dangerous, but today's railroads are very focused on working "accident-free," unlike the old days, when it was commonplace to see a railie missing a finger or two.

 

It's a little bit like serving in the armed forces, lots of rules and regulations, you go to work at all hours of the night, you're on call a lot, and you work whenever they need you. Still, it's not bad. I have a cousin who is an engineer in Alliance, Nebraska. He loves it.

[Schnitzel]

Kabar why don't you tell us aboput some of the cops/ Bulls you have met through out your travels?

I assume as a train hopper you've bumped in to a few.

Have you had any funny encounters with them?

 

Sorry if this seems like I'm asking to be entertained but you tell a great story and i really enjoy reading them.

 

and it's been said before but this is one of the best threads on here.

 

Was reading abook by a guy called Bill Bryson the other day and he mentions in a chapter walking by some railroad tracks one night and seeing three figures huddled near the door of a boxcar going past.

as soon as I read it I thought "hmmm not a good practice being visible"

 

But he then goes on about how wonderful it is that even in America at the time (this was from the 80's) there are people still free out there and how exciting it would be to run alongside and fling himself in with them.

 

It's called "the lost continent" but that is literally the only mention of train hopping or anything like that in it.

[KaBar2]

One of the benefits of not skylining yourself around rail yards is that you don't meet very many railroad special agents. I don't like riding into cities to begin with, and although I do scout rail yards in Houston occasionally, I am quite carefull to avoid attracting attention to myself.

 

Most of my bull encounters back in the day (1970's) were either unpleasant or just uneventful. The bulls out in the toolies were very laid back. I suspect a lot of them were retired city cops who had already had their fill of chasing crooks. They could tell that we weren't any threat just by looking at us. We were young, kind of hippy-ish, sort of altruistic. We weren't riding hot cargo, usually just empty revenue boxcars or gondolas. We weren't drinking heavily or using any sort of drugs, so the rural bulls would usually just say something like "I don't want to see you boys in this yard when they are kicking cars. When they start making up trains, you get out of their way. If I catch you on a unit, you're going to jail, understand? Be careful and stay well away from moving cars."

Other than that, we camped right in the middle of the yard. The evening that I met Rufe he was cooking camp coffee on a fire about ten feet from the mainline.

 

The bulls in town, though---that was a different story. They were generally younger and much more motivated. We ran from bulls in larger cities, and I got roughed up by the bulls in Pocatello, Idaho once, about 1972. The bulls in the larger cities seemed like frustrated wannabe police officers. It's like they wanted to be Cincinnatti cops or whatever, but they hadn't made the cut and wound up taking a special agent job for the railroad and feeling like it was a second-class police position where they weren't getting the respect they felt they deserved from other police officers. Consequently, every encounter was like their opportunity to make a felony arrest, and, they were rather cavalier with their use of force. They handcuffed people and marched them back to the bull shack or the yard office very ostentatiously. the whole atmosphere was like "I am the King of the Hill here, and you had damned well better acknowledge it. Just give me a reason to beat your ass senseless."

 

The way to deal with these sorts of people can best be summed up with Duffy Littlejohn's remarks about "The attitude test." Either you have the brains to act respectful and dumb, or you are stupid enough to talk shit to a police officer. I have managed to avoid several tickets for tresspassing by simply being civil. DO NOT VOLUNTEER INFORMATION. The bull says "Why are you in this railyard?" you say "I'm sorry, officer, I didn't know I was on railroad property here. I was looking for a place to camp." He says, "What's your name?" You say, "John Doe." (You do not say "I'm John Doe, I'm seventeen years old, I ran away from home last Tuesday and I've been riding freight trains all week.")

Lying to the cops is a bad idea, especially if they have a way of checking your story. And giving a false I.D. to a cop is a crime, too. Most of the time the cops will be reasonable unless they walk up on you while you are applying a crowbar to the IM freight box lock while smoking a joint and getting a blowjob from your underage girlfriend. If you use your brains, you can avoid even seeing the bull. If you act like an idiot, you re going to attract the attention of the bulls and probably the cops too.

 

KEEP A LOW PROFILE IN AND AROUND RAIL YARDS.

DO NOT SKYLINE YOURSELF.

"LEAVE NO TRACE.

DO NO DAMAGE.

MAKE NO DISTURBANCE."

[serum]

Railroad jobs with a major railroad that is union pay very well. Some of the smaller branch lines are non-union. I would avoid those. Working for the railroad means that you will be working long hours, often away from your home and family, under all kinds of shitty weather conditions. It also means you will eventually earn a railroad pension, you'll have great benefits, and the pay is pretty damned great for an industrial job.

 

It is a physically demanding job, and can be kind of dangerous, but today's railroads are very focused on working "accident-free," unlike the old days, when it was commonplace to see a railie missing a finger or two.

 

It's a little bit like serving in the armed forces, lots of rules and regulations, you go to work at all hours of the night, you're on call a lot, and you work whenever they need you. Still, it's not bad. I have a cousin who is an engineer in Alliance, Nebraska. He loves it.

 

hey thanks kabar for the information. i just wanted to check that my idea of it and reality were on point.

[theghostisclear]

The Haunter lives....