# City riding.



## dirtyfacedan (Dec 7, 2007)

I'm wondering, who the hell else rides the trains around their city? I ride home from work often, rec ride often...it's quicker than riding the bus (i'm fucking sick of riding buses, i do work on the damn things.). It does take longer in the sense you need to wait for them...but it's worth it. I guess I'm what a lot call a pussy rec rider..but it keeps me in shape till this job ends, and I can travel again. I haven't done a long distance trip in a few years. I know what goes where..how fast, and where to hop on/off. I know the dispatcher voices..i know the squatters by the tracks..the metal scrappers, the people who fish on the river, the people at the pubs along the line. I know of no one else in this city who does this...at least in the way i do. Other longer distance train riders seem to resent types like me, some say i give them a bad name. I ride the city a lot, dreaming of making some big trips...soon..again, soon. All the riding I have ever done is in western Canada. I have almost gotten into bar fights (i would have lost...for sure) over my ability to ride just as well as the tramps who stroll into town after a long trip, and i must admit, i want to be free..ride out, whenever the fuck i please..go where i want (at least when the season is right). this city is tying me down. anyways..enough rambling, anyone else ride the short line??


----------



## rootsong (Dec 7, 2007)

that's kinda how i got started... the train always slow down on the outskirts of my town & at various points inside, and i had friends throughout, so sometimes i'd ride back and fourth whenever it came blowin thru. i'd ride the ladder & wave at confused drivers... back then i didn't pay much mind to the different types of cars, etc.. i'd still do it if it were in any way convenient where i live now, but it isn't. i think now i wouldn't want to get off... i'm stationary for a bit, working, but every time that whistle blows my restlessness rises up all crazy.


----------



## byrdster7891 (Dec 10, 2007)

my first ride was from my home town (san luis obispo) to guadalupe. thats maybe an hour down south from slo. i started doing that all the time back when i was 13. i got caught shoplifting and i wasnt allowed to travel for awhile so i jut went back and forth. i had some friends a couple blocks from the yard in guadalupe and i lived only a couple blocks from the yard in slo. i dont think its a bad thing at all.train riding in general is an awesome experience and to enjoy it in any cirumstances is totally bitchin.


----------



## eliothenson (Dec 11, 2007)

Is guadalupe the town with a big refinery or something right across the tracks from an amtrak station? I got booted off there riding down from SLO to LA like a week ago, but I just ended up catching one of the empties on the same train 20 mintues later.


----------



## Mouse (Dec 11, 2007)

fuck them

fuck all of them who think they are so fucking tough, smart, and better than others just for (what in the end are _extremely_ minor) differences in culture or beliefs. Whether you're going cross country or cross town you're still all of the same cloth. everyone has a right to be proud of who they are and what they do but they have no right to tear down others for the same pride.

these inner hierarchies of bullshit need to stop. it's more about the general dream we all share. if you keep getting hung up on the boxed out stereotypes we're no better than the cliches of high school (double cliche! oops! haha)


----------



## rideitlikeyoustoleit (Dec 11, 2007)

In the middle of Sacramento's downtown, trains going to and from Stockton run through tons and tons of times as day, never going more then 10 miles per hour. The tracks literally go through the entire grid (we have a downtown grid system).


----------



## byrdster7891 (Dec 29, 2007)

yeah guadalupe is the town with the big mill thing. a buddy of mine actually works there. its a tiny town and you can hear the trains all through it. i used to live in my friends trailer a couple blocks away from the yard and every night i could hear the trains coming and going. its easy to get caught there, thres so many damn workers all the time.


----------



## Clit Comander (Dec 30, 2007)

i've ridden from northern seattle to georgetown. which was like 45 minute ride. And tonight for the hell of it i rode from one side of grand island,neb to the other side. which was like 10 mins long.


----------



## Clit Comander (Dec 30, 2007)

byrdster7891 said:


> my first ride was from my home town (san luis obispo) to guadalupe. thats maybe an hour down south from slo. i started doing that all the time back when i was 13. i got caught shoplifting and i wasnt allowed to travel for awhile so i jut went back and forth. i had some friends a couple blocks from the yard in guadalupe and i lived only a couple blocks from the yard in slo. i dont think its a bad thing at all.train riding in general is an awesome experience and to enjoy it in any cirumstances is totally bitchin.


i thought you could only really catch north from slo town.


----------



## byrdster7891 (Dec 30, 2007)

no you can go both ways. southbound usually gets you into downtown l.a. not esactly a fun place to wind up. it stops in Guadalupe at night, though.


----------



## Dillinger (Dec 30, 2007)

I used to live in Lynchburg, near where tracks go through a college and always had to slow down (slow enough to get on at least). I could get from this college to the local mall. Thus is the story of my first experience ever.


----------



## eliothenson (Dec 30, 2007)

Clit Comander said:


> byrdster7891 said:
> 
> 
> > my first ride was from my home town (san luis obispo) to guadalupe. thats maybe an hour down south from slo. i started doing that all the time back when i was 13. i got caught shoplifting and i wasnt allowed to travel for awhile so i jut went back and forth. i had some friends a couple blocks from the yard in guadalupe and i lived only a couple blocks from the yard in slo. i dont think its a bad thing at all.train riding in general is an awesome experience and to enjoy it in any cirumstances is totally bitchin.
> ...





There are two southbounds every weekday, and catching out is really really easy. There's a bike path that goes along the whole yard, with an access point that puts you just about midtrain. Locals cut across trains all the time, too, so even if you get spotted it won't be obvious you're a rider.


----------

