# Easy hop turns humiliating



## nastynaty

I recently found out after 6 years of hopping trains I dont know anything about hopping trains. It started after i recorded my demo with my new band in new mexico. I heard wind of a train hoppers alley cat in chicago of which i was very interested. I thought it would be a simple trans-con stint a kin to my multiple cross country hops.

Im in the yard at belen as I was just 3 weeks before this time, swarmed by mosquitos from the recent rainstorms. Two or three trains every couple hours, the one I needed rolled up at around 2am. After watching the thousand mile inspection finish up I mosey on over and climb aboard the miniwell that fit me clean face, and my bike dirty, so well.

"Get your stuff and get off the train" said a bnsf bull as i had hardly made the throat of the clovis yard. I get pulled, same old story except this guy puts me in handcuffs and interrogates me about a small bnsf offense 5 years prior. He lets me go but only after informing me that he lost the handcuff key and that "i was lucky he found the spare". I ride my bike to the ebd hopout, threw up a moniker next to my two previous ones and get on the next IM that fit my ID.

I woke up 120 miles east of Amarillo on dallas bound trackage. I could have caught from Dallas to Chicago but, I thought hitching to Amarillo and catching on the trans-con would be faster. I get off and ride my bike probably 4 hours and camp at a scenic pull-off. Morning comes and i start my trek again. A trucker pulls off and offers a ride to downtown amarillo, i graciously accepted. I make my way to the hopout and grab some beer, train food, and smokes from that weird empty corner store by the hopout. I catch a moniker and the next train that matched my ID.

Train stops I wake up outside of downtown Tulsa, I'm on the frisco line bound for Memphis. I thought i would stop again in Tulsa so I stayed on. Hours later I rolled through Tulsa and the crew decided to stop right on the Oklahoma/Missouri border. I'm completely out of water and my phones dead, I see a small church across from me and decide to go beg for my needs. I knock, an old lady shows up and tells me where the spigot is and points at the outdoor power outlet. I sit and browse my phone as i watch my train, four cop cars come racing into the parking lot. "Put your hands in the air and walk slowly towards me, I fucking said slowly" says the main macho gun wielding meat head. Handcuffs again but this time guns drawn, I watch my train pull away. Turns out the old lady thought I was trying to rob the place. Now, I get it face tattoos and small towns dont mix well but if I was gonna rob you I wouldnt beg kindly for water and electricity first. Cops drive me to Oklahoma and decide I'm Oklahoma's problem now.

I have some friends in tulsa that came and picked me up. We had a good day or two hanging out and talking about grindcore (if you're in tulsa theres a fancy pizza spot that will give you a free 30$ pizza if you follow them on instagram). I decided to hitch to kcmo to once again catch a train on the trans-con line. All in all straight forward hitch, except the one who broke down 20 minutes from argentine yard.

I rode my bike and ran into a lady at the dollar store by argentine yard that had to hug me cause of my free spirit, she was over the top nice and bought my next set of train food. I get kicked out of the dollar store parking lot for whatever reason so I rode over to the hopout. Cops! Like 3 cop cars right in front of the hopout. It was simply a car accident and they didnt notice me slip past to wait at the ebd argentine hopout. My train pulls up very shortly after my arrival, someone told me the c-c's for my specific train were about 30min. They were wrong, I'm scoping the train up and down when it airs up and I'm about a football feild away from the only ride I seen. I run like hell to catch it on the fly i hook my drop bars on the side and grab the ladder. Everything going smooth and then my bike drops, sucked under the car for me to look on in total dismay. "Clunk-clunk clunk-clunk" each set of wheels rings out as I watch my freshly rebuilt bianchi get destroyed. I retreat with the carcass of the bike I loved and stash it for a future rebuild. The next train comes and i go with it.

I finally made it to chicago with no further problems. I got a new bike at the squat i stayed in and I had a blast at the alley cat. When i hoped back west I stopped In kansas city and rebuilt my bianchi with the track bike I got from the squat. All in all I had fun but I realised as much as I thought I knew about trains, I can always know more. I took some wrong turns, and I lost some important time and possessions but i walked away humbled. I may never know exactly how trains work and I think thats what I need to remember on the rails, mistakes are half the fun(frustration).


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## Coywolf

Any idea why you got popped outta Clovis? The Belen yard sucks, and there are down-facing cameras everywhere.

I've seen people catch with bikes....I personally would never want to try that. So much extra bulk.

Glad it didint turn out really bad for ya.

I've been trying to gauge what the security presence would be this winter when I hit the road again.

That church story is crazy. Wtf.


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## nastynaty

Coywolf said:


> Any idea why you got popped outta Clovis? The Belen yard sucks, and there are down-facing cameras everywhere.
> 
> I've seen people catch with bikes....I personally would never want to try that. So much extra bulk.
> 
> Glad it didint turn out really bad for ya.
> 
> I've been trying to gauge what the security presence would be this winter when I hit the road again.
> 
> That church story is crazy. Wtf.


I got pulled off in clovis cause the bull was scanning cars from those ladders before the frogs. Ive rolled through there a lot in daytime and caught out in daytime a few times. This was my first time getting caught by a bull there but I've heard stories and been chased. 

And honestly belens my favorite yard i never have problems there. I have a pretty cool story of a bull escorting me to the right ebd train there and actually just let me out of his truck to get on it, i have his phone number but he quit eventually. 

The church thing was pretty tense and the cop bragged about how he can turn his body cam off to do whatever he want when he was giving me a ride out of county.


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## BradKajukenbo

Thats Crazy. 

Back in the 90s, it was rumored that if anyone in the yards caught you on board, you'd get beat to an inch of your life. I never witnessed such a beating from anyone being caught on a train. In 95 when I got caught, I was surprised that going to jail was the only thing that happened. Still even then I was still paranoid about bulls beating hobos and did everything I could not to get caught again.


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## nastynaty

BradKajukenbo said:


> Thats Crazy.
> 
> Back in the 90s, it was rumored that if anyone in the yards caught you on board, you'd get beat to an inch of your life. I never witnessed such a beating from anyone being caught on a train. In 95 when I got caught, I was surprised that going to jail was the only thing that happened. Still even then I was still paranoid about bulls beating hobos and did everything I could not to get caught again.


I honestly always stay low profile especially on routes I've already taken in the scenery. The bull said he wouldn't have seen me if it weren't for the shimmer off my bike rim, which is about the only thing chrome on my bike.

Ive heard rumors over 80/90s bull and ftra run ins that give me nightmares. The little bit of public documentation i have seen from the mid to late 90s and early 2000s has shown me that they might have been bigger oogles than even I was in 2012(i.e. train wedding). I would have never done the stuff they do in some of those documentaries even with a half gallon of taaka, then again cell phones weren't quite a popular thing back then.


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## nastynaty

@Coywolf also i saw a coy moniker for the first time in clovis i think it said rip stobe. Good getting up right next to my clovis hopout hope to see more. I think it was dated shortly after one of my previous monikers. I hate when that happens cause I feel like I could have hung with someone at the hopout if I would have waited.


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## BradKajukenbo

nastynaty said:


> I honestly always stay low profile especially on routes I've already taken in the scenery. The bull said he wouldn't have seen me if it weren't for the shimmer off my bike rim, which is about the only thing chrome on my bike.
> 
> Ive heard rumors over 80/90s bull and ftra run ins that give me nightmares. The little bit of public documentation i have seen from the mid to late 90s and early 2000s has shown me that they might have been bigger oogles than even I was in 2012(i.e. train wedding). I would have never done the stuff they do in some of those documentaries even with a half gallon of taaka, then again cell phones weren't quite a popular thing back then.



From all that I have read or seen, the times we live in now, I think people are more chill. I hear now more stories about how railroad employees are more helpful then abusive. It seems like if you get caught and are cooperative and not causing a problem, they will most likely send you on your way rather to jail or the hospital.


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## nastynaty

BradKajukenbo said:


> From all that I have read or seen, the times we live in now, I think people are more chill. I hear now more stories about how railroad employees are more helpful then abusive. It seems like if you get caught and are cooperative and not causing a problem, they will most likely send you on your way rather to jail or the hospital.


I mean thats my experience(mostly) but some of the late nineties documentaries make those fools look like nihilists to the extreme. It seems as if there was no worries of cops back then. I've been beaten by cops for no reason, and jailed for even less of one.


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## BradKajukenbo

Now I've been chased by the bull many times. No telling what they would have done to me if they caught me. Though I never met anyone back then who had a violent encounter with the bull or any cop. Just stories which were enough to scare the shit outta a train hopper.


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## Doobie_D

Great write up. Shitty times are always no fun when they are happening but always make great stories later on.


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## EmmaAintDead

Oogle Cat was fun as hell, not sure if i would have gone through all that trouble for it though. 

RIP your bike, glad you made it!


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## nastynaty

EmmaAintDead said:


> Oogle Cat was fun as hell, not sure if i would have gone through all that trouble for it though.
> 
> RIP your bike, glad you made it!


Yeah it was fun as heck, all the mis-haps made it that much better when i got there though.


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## Des

Forgot the part about that guy swinging that machete at us while we were trying to pitch camp in KC


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## nastynaty

Des said:


> Forgot the part about that guy swinging that machete at us while we were trying to pitch camp in KC


Yeah i guess that definitely happened but he meant well, haha!


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## Deleted member 25988

nastynaty said:


> The church thing was pretty tense and the cop bragged about how he can turn his body cam off to do whatever he want when he was giving me a ride out of county.


That is absolutely horrific behavior from the cop but unfortunately seems more common these days.


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## Potts

Des said:


> Forgot the part about that guy swinging that machete at us while we were trying to pitch camp in KC


When I am "home"... That's my part of town. Kinda. SW BLVD and Rainbow. Good fly spot by the viaduct on 7th street and I-35 N off-ramp


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## Tony G

nastynaty said:


> I recently found out after 6 years of hopping trains I dont know anything about hopping trains. It started after i recorded my demo with my new band in new mexico. I heard wind of a train hoppers alley cat in chicago of which i was very interested. I thought it would be a simple trans-con stint a kin to my multiple cross country hops.
> 
> Im in the yard at belen as I was just 3 weeks before this time, swarmed by mosquitos from the recent rainstorms. Two or three trains every couple hours, the one I needed rolled up at around 2am. After watching the thousand mile inspection finish up I mosey on over and climb aboard the miniwell that fit me clean face, and my bike dirty, so well.
> 
> "Get your stuff and get off the train" said a bnsf bull as i had hardly made the throat of the clovis yard. I get pulled, same old story except this guy puts me in handcuffs and interrogates me about a small bnsf offense 5 years prior. He lets me go but only after informing me that he lost the handcuff key and that "i was lucky he found the spare". I ride my bike to the ebd hopout, threw up a moniker next to my two previous ones and get on the next IM that fit my ID.
> 
> I woke up 120 miles east of Amarillo on dallas bound trackage. I could have caught from Dallas to Chicago but, I thought hitching to Amarillo and catching on the trans-con would be faster. I get off and ride my bike probably 4 hours and camp at a scenic pull-off. Morning comes and i start my trek again. A trucker pulls off and offers a ride to downtown amarillo, i graciously accepted. I make my way to the hopout and grab some beer, train food, and smokes from that weird empty corner store by the hopout. I catch a moniker and the next train that matched my ID.
> 
> Train stops I wake up outside of downtown Tulsa, I'm on the frisco line bound for Memphis. I thought i would stop again in Tulsa so I stayed on. Hours later I rolled through Tulsa and the crew decided to stop right on the Oklahoma/Missouri border. I'm completely out of water and my phones dead, I see a small church across from me and decide to go beg for my needs. I knock, an old lady shows up and tells me where the spigot is and points at the outdoor power outlet. I sit and browse my phone as i watch my train, four cop cars come racing into the parking lot. "Put your hands in the air and walk slowly towards me, I fucking said slowly" says the main macho gun wielding meat head. Handcuffs again but this time guns drawn, I watch my train pull away. Turns out the old lady thought I was trying to rob the place. Now, I get it face tattoos and small towns dont mix well but if I was gonna rob you I wouldnt beg kindly for water and electricity first. Cops drive me to Oklahoma and decide I'm Oklahoma's problem now.
> 
> I have some friends in tulsa that came and picked me up. We had a good day or two hanging out and talking about grindcore (if you're in tulsa theres a fancy pizza spot that will give you a free 30$ pizza if you follow them on instagram). I decided to hitch to kcmo to once again catch a train on the trans-con line. All in all straight forward hitch, except the one who broke down 20 minutes from argentine yard.
> 
> I rode my bike and ran into a lady at the dollar store by argentine yard that had to hug me cause of my free spirit, she was over the top nice and bought my next set of train food. I get kicked out of the dollar store parking lot for whatever reason so I rode over to the hopout. Cops! Like 3 cop cars right in front of the hopout. It was simply a car accident and they didnt notice me slip past to wait at the ebd argentine hopout. My train pulls up very shortly after my arrival, someone told me the c-c's for my specific train were about 30min. They were wrong, I'm scoping the train up and down when it airs up and I'm about a football feild away from the only ride I seen. I run like hell to catch it on the fly i hook my drop bars on the side and grab the ladder. Everything going smooth and then my bike drops, sucked under the car for me to look on in total dismay. "Clunk-clunk clunk-clunk" each set of wheels rings out as I watch my freshly rebuilt bianchi get destroyed. I retreat with the carcass of the bike I loved and stash it for a future rebuild. The next train comes and i go with it.
> 
> I finally made it to chicago with no further problems. I got a new bike at the squat i stayed in and I had a blast at the alley cat. When i hoped back west I stopped In kansas city and rebuilt my bianchi with the track bike I got from the squat. All in all I had fun but I realised as much as I thought I knew about trains, I can always know more. I took some wrong turns, and I lost some important time and possessions but i walked away humbled. I may never know exactly how trains work and I think thats what I need to remember on the rails, mistakes are half the fun(frustration).


Bro thank God your okay gotta be careful stay vigilant on the rails one slip one untied shoe or like stobe one loose strap and you get killed be careful


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## wirl

nice tip on the pizza, glad u made it. familiar gettin cops called for random reasons. last one was for changin my swim suit on a beach. took 5 seconds. stuck up dude was like 300ft away.


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## Onions

Thanks for the write up, I enjoyed the story. Wishing you best of luck out there.


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## G Hotdog

nastynaty said:


> The church thing was pretty tense and the cop bragged about how he can turn his body cam off to do whatever he want when he was giving me a ride out of county.


That body cam comment is absolutely messed, thankfully they weren't too much of a shithead to do something like that. All because of some electricity and water too...


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## CasterWizard

nastynaty said:


> I got pulled off in clovis cause the bull was scanning cars from those ladders before the frogs. Ive rolled through there a lot in daytime and caught out in daytime a few times. This was my first time getting caught by a bull there but I've heard stories and been chased.
> 
> And honestly belens my favorite yard i never have problems there. I have a pretty cool story of a bull escorting me to the right ebd train there and actually just let me out of his truck to get on it, i have his phone number but he quit eventually.
> 
> The church thing was pretty tense and the cop bragged about how he can turn his body cam off to do whatever he want when he was giving me a ride out of county.


Great story thanks for sharing! Is belens the way to go over albuquerque? Do you have any specific tips for that yard?


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