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Contents 1 Freighting 2 Types of Rides 2.1 Intermodal 2.2 General Manifest 2.3 Gear 2.4 Getting on and off 2.5 Misc. 2.6 Finding the Right Train 2.7 Hobo code of ethics 2.8 Passenger Coach

Freighting

Just like most "free" methods of travel talked about in STB, train-hopping is more difficult due to the Bush Empire's restrictions on transportation. Train-hopping is still do-able, but since the government has gotten word of potential "terrorists" hitching a ride on a freight train, you hold a much better chance of being fined or arrested by railroad cops or the local pigs for trespass. This security is also due to taggers who paint the sides of railroad cars and the liability from injured and killed hobos, a hobo leaves nothing but maybe some garbage and only endangers himself, a tagger causes lasting unwanted evidence which managers can't ignore, they have to assume all trespassers are there to tag. With the price of fuel rising expect more trains running more places as trucks are priced off of the road.

To start, leave with someone who knows what they're doing. It will help with being safe, save you from a lot of headaches, and keep you from being unnecessarily paranoid. If you do leave by yourself, don't try to hop any moving trains until you know what you're doing.

Types of Rides

There are two types of trains, Inter Modal (IM) and General Manifest (GM). Slang terms for these are Hotshots and Junk, respectively. There are separate yards for IMs, but they will still work in GM yards. Both of these categories can be broken down further into types of cars.

Intermodal

Hotshots are the quickest ride you can catch (hence the name). When two trains are going down the same length of track, one train will have to side for the other at a 2 mile, a length of track where it splits into 2 tracks than goes back, or one will side in a yard. Hotshots only have to side for Amtracks and specialty trains (like the Florida Juice train). They also seem to go a lot faster. Hotshots are made up of shipping containers and semi trailers for people like UPS and chain stores. They have tighter security than junk trains because people like to jack shit from the containers.

• Wells- Well cars are 5 foot tall or so buckets that shipping containers get dropped in to. Wells come in different lengths, as do the containers. You want to try for a 48 container dropped into a 52 (53?) well. You can ride in the space in the leftover space between the container and the front of the well. The problem with this is it's harder to find wells with floors these days. Wells without floors are called suicides. They either have a pattern of traingles cut out of the floor, or just steel diagonal beams running the length. A suicide can be ridden on the 1 foot or so that runs the perimeter with your feet resting on a crossbeam but you can't really sleep unless you sleep on the upper porch (where you're visible).

• Pigs- pig is slang for a semi trailer. you will have either trailers on flat cars (TOFC) or pigs in buckets. A pig in a bucket is a trailer set into a Container well. Riding a TOFC, you can hide in between the wheels reasonably well, but a bucket is better. One advantage of the Pig is you have shade.

General Manifest

Junk trains are the trains everyone pictures when they think of freight trains. There's a lot of different types of cars, but only some are rideable.

• The romanticized boxcar- Boxcars are really nice to ride; shade, well hidden, usually something comfortable to sleep on. They are alot harder to hop in and out of because there isn't a ladder, so it's 5 feet instead of 2 and you have to pull your self up with upper body strength. A boxcar with two open doors is best. boxcar doors can't be opened from the inside. before you get in, grab a rail spike and jam it into the track of the door, or whatever else you can find.

• Grainer- a Grainer is sort of shaped like an upside down trapezoid, with "porches" on either end, and metal walk ways across the tops. they carry things like sand and laundry detergent. When riding a grainer, you ride the porch. You want to get on the side without the brake equipment on it, and it's nicer to be on the back. Riding on the front is alot colder (so nice in the summer) and you get whatever shit is on the porch in front of you in your mouth in eyes. riding on the front is called riding dirty faced, for obvious reasons. Some grainers have little short walls running the perimeter of the porch. these are called Cadillacs and they're straight pimpin'. Grainers have holes cut into the sides, so when you need to hide you can crawl inside.

• flat cars- terrible. Completely visible, and there's no shade.

• tankers- Unrideable.

• Gondolas- Gondolas are big buckets. They get filled with all kinds of things, like scrap metal, wire spools, etc. You shouldn't ever ride a loaded Gondola; use your best judgment. The shorter ones are the only ones worth riding.

Gear

How to pack your bindle for safe and comfortable riding. Even more than normal be sure to pack light and be ready to ditch your pack if something goes wrong while jumping aboard. Don't ever carry glass bottles or jars, it is almost impossible to board or unload without breaking them. Bag anything that can leak or get all over the place in ziplocs. Ziplocs are a good idea anyway for keeping your gear organized and waterproof. A gym bag might be great for boarding but you are likely to walk a bit from your unloading spot so a small backpack is probably better, since none of us travel with a farmers hoe anymore the romantic tied bandanna "bindle stick" packing method is best left to hobo conventions.

A sleeping bag, jacket, or blanket keeps the wind off even in summer; these open cars are breezy once they get moving fast. Goggles or Sun glasses keep the bugs, sun, and wind out of your eyes. An Egyptian style kafiyah or very large scarf wrapped around your face will might make you look like a terrorist but will keep the bugs and dirt out of your teeth and the sun off of your face, a t-shirt can also be wrapped around your face. A stadium pad or sleeping mat to sit on is smart, the floors are usually hard, cold, and filthy, tie your pad and loose gear so it won't blow away. Remember that freight cars are filthy and jumping freights is a good way to beat both yourself and clothing up. Gloves, sturdy shoes, a tough jacket, and rip resistant trousers are a good idea. Everything that can will fall out of your pockets or get left in the car. If you smoke, taping your lighter to a string and tying or clipping it on to your pants is recommended.

Bring plenty of water. The wind dehydrates you. If you ride a car without shade you are baking in the sun all day. It sucks to have to get off early in some random town because you ran out of water. You can choose between carrying a gallon jug in your hand or better yet packing several reused 2 liter soda bottles in your pack, these are pretty tough. Be prepared for your jug to get punctured, this is when carrying several bottles pays off. It's generally good to bring an extra bottle for drinking while you wait for your train, and the walk to the yard. A nalgene is good because you can keep track of how much you drink. Keep it clipped to your waist in case you lose your jug or pack. Drink small sips constantly, even when you aren't thirsty. If you try to stop yourself from drinking till you are really thirsty you tend to drink more. and you're dehydrated and feel like shit. Watch your piss, and and watch your spit.

For train food, tuna fish, sardines, cereal, pop tarts, and sacked cookies, cake, trail mix, and granola are all good. Peanut butter in a plastic jar or tube is an excellent thing to bring. It's good to keep your sugar intake in check. Jacking condiment packets before hand will make your train eating experience much more enjoyable. A lot of folks take a metal spoon and bend the end of the handle over a key ring and keep it on a caribiner.

A cheap GPS can help you keep track of where you are although there is pretty good signs along most tracks, a compass will just point at the steel train car, use the sun and stars to tell direction. A good area or national map book with train tracks marked is required unless you know the way.

Getting on and off

It's always best to get on and off a stopped train. If it's difficult to get on in the yard, you can sometimes get on it outside of the yard. When a train works or is built in a yard, it has to pick up strings of cars from different tracks. It will pull out past the track to the switch, than back into the string of cars on the next track. This is called doubling-back.

Getting on a moving train is called hopping on the fly. This is the most dangerous part. It's where all the horror stories come from about severed limbs (well that and people being drunk and stupid). It can be preferable since you don't have to go into the yard at all and if you are trying to catch a train based on what track it leaves on, you can wait at that track specifically. The down side is it is alot harder to pick your car, and if you wait to long for a rideable car, you might miss the train completely. Knowing whether or not to hop on the fly is an important decision you should make for yourself. Just because someone says you can do it in a certain place, or the person you are with can, doesn't mean you can. A rule of thumb is if you can see and count the bolts on the wheels than it's going slow enough. If anything, run along side it and see if you can keep up with a ladder. Watch where you put your feet, there is all kinds of shit you can run into and trip. You want to run along side the train, grab the ladder with one hand, throw your jug up with the other if you have one, than grab with the other and throw your feet onto the ladder. Save hopping on the fly till you know what you're doing.

Getting off on the fly is harder than getting on. To tell if it's slow enough, looking down and comparing how fast the ties are going by and your running speed works well enough. Most folks throw their pack of first, Once i drink all my water and eat all my food I only have 7 pounds on my back so I leave mine on. You want to stand on the ladder, holding on with one hand and one foot, than while still holding on, drop your feet and run like hell as soon as you hit, and immediately let go with your hand. You kind of need to lean back. It's hard to do. Falling sucks, you'll fuck up your hands on the gravel, you always fall forward. try to run diagonally away from the train for safety.

Misc.

You can use the train to flatten coins and other metal objects by leaving them on an active rail and waiting, be careful a fast moving train can really fling this stuff hard, we have sold necklaces and belly button ring charms made from flattened coins. Look for rail spikes which work as heavy tent pegs and chopped off bits of rail near a repair, the rail chunks are heavy but work great as anvils.

Trains use air brakes. Every car has a little compressor on it, and hoses run the length of the train. When a train is about to start, you here the brakes. When a train is built, a worker has to go the length and connect all the hoses. If your train breaks (which can be bad) they close a valve before and after the break than disconnect the hose. you can hear that if you're close enough. When a train breaks the extra worker in the unit walks the length of the train to break it, than either rides on a car or gets picked up in a work truck. After a while all the sounds are recognizable and it's helpful.

A train breaks to leave a string of cars at a destination, or pick up more cars. It's easier to break in the middle instead of backing the entire train in. that's because it's a pain in the ass to back a huge train into a yard, or the FRED (light on the end) is a pain in the ass to attach or something like that. because of that, the back is preferable so you don't have to go into the yard when strings get picked up, and you are one of the last cars to get dropped off.

Crew Change is a term for when the conductor and company finishes their shift and a new crew gets on. A crew can only legally work somewhere between 8 and 10 hours before switching.

BE CAREFUL. Never move under cars or over the coupling. When moving between cars use the ladders. Workers are much more likely to give you shit if you're acting a fool, and less likely to care if you are being as safe as them. Watch out for hump yards. Hump yards are areas of the yard where there is a big hill with track going down it. A car is taken to the hill, and released to slam into another car and join the couplings. This is one method of building trains. They can sometimes move upwards of 20mph and are dark and quiet, don't let one sneak up and run you over. Steer clear. Also, some yards have remote controlled yard engines, which is a scary thought. that means there isn't anyone to see you before they run you over. If you enter the yard from a normal entrance they have big neon signs telling you it uses remote controlled engines.

Sometimes a car will have one uneven wheel. The train will rock and make the worst fucking racket you've ever heard, and it's ten times worse in a boxcar. Trains are loud as hell anyway, so bring ear plugs if you think you'll need them.

Finding the Right Train

There's two ways about getting information- technology and talking to people. In the end, you need a whole lot of intuition, need to be sure of yourself, and you need to accept the facts when you get on the wrong train going the wrong direction or your train releases pressure and you're stuck outside a cement factory in the middle of nowhere.

• Harry Ladd's Railroad traffic Atlas- This is a map of all the freight lines in the united states. It shows trackage rights, how much weight gets moved down each line, crew changes, and yards. You can find it online, it costs 30 dollars.

• Google earth is actually pretty useful. You can set it to show nothing but roads and train lines. the yards show up as a cluster of black lines. Alot of times two tracks just show up as one when they're close together. It's useful for finding service roads, as well as checking on the directions out of each yard. You can tell where to wait by following the mainline tracks out of the yard to their destinations. with some time you can determine if "geographically south trains go to such and such a city and trains that go west at the split are headed for such and such a city."

• Touch trace numbers are automated phone lines where you can type in a cars numbers and get information on it. CSX's number is the only one I have any experience with and it's pretty useless. If you have a cell phone, once your train is moving you type in the car numbers and it can tell you the destination. The destination is not the final destination, but the next crew change or yard the train works in. Sometimes it will tell you ETA.

• bullsheet.com and Skedz.com are both sites with train time tables. Bullsheet is no longer updated. skedz is for commercial shippers so it's times are final drop off time to make the shipment, not exact times whatsoever. both sites list the yards each train passes through. bullsheet is a rail fan site so it's times are more useful, and it lists crew changes.

• Using a scanner is pretty damn useful, if you can understand what the hell the workers are saying. A 100 channel scanner works fine, 200 is better. the AAR (American Association of Railroads) assigned a range of frequencies to all railroad operations (including bulls). Once programmed into the scanner, pressing scan constantly searches thru all the AAR Numbers for any communication and stops when it finds something. Workers will talk and recieve on two separate channels (sometimes one in smaller yards) so you need to constantly scan to hear both sides of the conversation. The yard office will generally talk on a different frequency as well, as does the bull. Some scanners are equipped with "close call" (uniden) or something similar, which picks up any local transmissions, even if they aren't programmed. A scanner is pretty useless if you don't know your trains number (get it on bullsheet). Workers will either refer to the train by it's unit number or the trains number (the trains number is for the train at that time on that route). You can also hear when your train has clearance (is ready to leave) or who it's siding for, among other things. Sometimes Police overlap onto the same frequencies which can be annoying; get a scanner with a lock out function.

• The Crew Change guide is an underground publication distributed among train riders. It isn't posted on the internet or sold in stores. You can photocopy one off of somebody for about 5 dollars in copies. It's updated every year. The crew change lists just about everything you need to know. It's the most valuable navigational aid you can get. if you don't know how to tell north and south than get a compass. it won't work on trains but the crew change uses the directions a lot.

Deciding whether or not to speak to yard workers is entirely up to you, and you should use your best judgment in any situation. At worst they will call the bull on you. Yard workers are also known to put you on the wrong train; sometimes three different workers will tell you three different things. And sometimes they are really helpful and will even radio to ask about your train. The crew generally only knows information about their train. If a worker sees you it's best to wave; you can judge by their reaction if they're liable to call the bull. When talking to workers you can tell them you're a rail fan, a big time train enthusiast who just likes watching trains. This wont work if you have your pack on.

Hobo code of ethics

An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 during its 1889 National Hobo Convention in St. Louis Missouri. This code was voted upon as a concrete set of laws to govern the Nation-wide Hobo Body, it reads this way;

1. Decide your own life, don't let another person run or rule you.
2. When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.
3. Don't take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.
4. Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but insure employment should you return to that town again.
5. When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.
6. Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals treatment of other hobos.
7. When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as bad, if not worse than you.
8. Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling(camping).
9. If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.
10. Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.
11. When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.
12. Do not cause problems in a train yard, Another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.
13. Do not allow other hobos to molest children, expose to authorities all molesters, they are the worst garbage to infest any society.
14. Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.
15. Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.

Passenger Coach

If you have the cash or a good scam get aboard a rail coach, it is the most civilized way to travel on land. Many trains are unable to take full size bikes as luggage, you might need a reservation, folder bikes are fine as regular luggage. You will find many passenger cars now have 110v(220v in Europe) power plugs for charging your gadgets. You might try modifying the scams in Buses and Airlines to get a free trip, but remember most trains check the ticket onboard when the conductor comes around.

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What follows is the original text

FREIGHTING

There is a way to hitch long distances that has certain advantages over letting your thumb hang out for hours on some two-laner. Learn about riding the trains and you'll always have that alternative. Hitchhiking at night can be impossible, but hopping a train is easier at night than by day. By hitchhiking days and hopping freights and sleeping on them at night, you can cover incredible distances rapidly and stay well rested. Every city and most large towns have a freight yard. You can find it by following the tracks or asking where the freight yard is located.

When you get to the yard, ask the workmen when the next train leaving in your direction will be pulling out. Unlike the phony Hollywood image, railroad men are nice to folks who drop by to grab a ride. Most yards don't have a guard or a "bull" as they are called. Even if they do, he is generally not around. If there is a bull around, the most he's going to do is tell you it's private property and ask you to leave. There are exceptions to this rule, such as the notorious Lincoln, Nebraska, and Las Vegas, Nevada, but by asking you can find out. Even if he asks you to leave or throws you out, sneak back when your train is pulling out and jump aboard.

After you've located the right train for your trip, hunt for an empty boxcar to ride. The men in the yards will generally point one out if you ask. Pig-sties, flat cars and coal cars are definitely third class due to exposure to the elements. Boxcars are by far the best. They are clean and the roof over your head helps in bad weather and cuts down the wind. Boxcars with a hydro-cushion suspension system used for carrying fragile cargo make for the smoothest ride. Unless you get one, you should be prepared for a pretty bumpy and noisy voyage.

You should avoid cars with only one door open, because the pin may break, locking you in. A car with both doors open gives you one free chance. Pig-backs (trailers on flatcars) are generally considered unsafe. Most trains make a number of short hops, so if time is an important factor try to get on a "hot shot" express. A hot shot travels faster and has priority over other trains in crowded yards. You should favor a hot shot even if you have to wait an extra hour or two or more to get one going your way.

If you're traveling at night, be sure to dress warmly. You can freeze your ass off. Trains might not offer the most comfortable ride, but they go through beautiful countryside that you'd never see from the highway or airway. There are no billboards, road signs, cops, Jack-in-the-Boxes, gas stations or other artifacts of honky culture. You'll get dirty on the trains so wear old clothes. Don't pass up this great way to travel cause some bullshit western scared you out of it.