# Random Encounters While Riding Trains



## wizehop (Mar 11, 2012)

So I ended up typing more that expected so if your not up for a read:

TL;DR ran into a random rider while train hopping, has anyone ever had a good or bad experience running into kids on trains?

Last week while on tour I received an email from Murt telling me he was thinking about swinging up my way. At the time I was rolling up North to do some winter riding/camping but couldn't pass up the chance to chill with a superstar rider.
So I hunkered down trackside in Mactier, set up camp, and enjoyed the finer things booze, campfires, and the Canadian winter wilderness can provide. As it can be a times communication was hit and miss so I left Murt an email saying I was in Mactier camping trackside at milepost 126. So even if we couldn't get a hold of each other via phone he could find my ass if he was in the hood.
After 2 days I was getting a bit restless but was still worried he would show up the day I left and Id look like a dick. So that afternoon I decided to take a short ride to Cartier and back. Its only 4 hours further north so I could pretty much get there and back same day if all went well.






The goal was to pack up and sit in the woods ready to leave. Of course my train didn't come until 5 am the next morning. So by about 10pm I was like fuck it, Ill roll out the sleeping bag and grab some ZzZ. The snow was deep there, my docs had holes everywhere so my feet had been soaked all day every day. Even if your warm everywhere but your feet are wet/cold, your done. Happy to get my soaked ass socks and boots off I quickly feel asleep.
I'm on the CP main, but CN also runs their mainline parallel less that a mile away, so trains came on the regular. Every half an hour I'd wake up thinking it was time to bolt only to realize it wasn't my train. To make matters worse they were working in the yard so when trains pulled in (depending on what they were doing in the yard) the switcher would have its lights shinning on the train.




Fast forward to 5am, still dark and a GM pulling mostly empty grainers rolls in. Jumping out of my sleeping bag, I put on my boots without even bothering with my wet hobo socks, or lacing them. Roll up my bivy and dash through the bush towards my train. Snows packing in my boots as I run through the knee deep snow.
Of course in typical style I stepped through the ice into those fucking streams railroads always use to separate their yards from the woods. So now Im running with snow and swampy ass water packed boots, laces trailing.
Luckily the switcher was backed around the corner, but I could see its lights shining further up the train. So as long as they didn't roll forward any more I still had cover. I managed to get on and into my ride no problems and within minutes we where northbound. Some rider past had obviously been in here for a long haul, it was covered in straw, empty juice containers and some clothing. I rolled a drum, smoked it then went back too sleep.

By the time the sun was up we where rolling through the barren rocky landscape so familiar with Sudburry. Not long after rolling through Sudburry we pulled into a siding. At first I thought we pulled over for a train but I then heard slight banging from farther up the train. Of course my first though is that someone saw me while rolling through town and the cops where checking the cars.
I climbed out onto the porch and peaked up and down both sides of the train. Unfortunately we had been parked on a curve so I couldn't see too far either way. To make matters worse their was cliffs on both sides of the tracks so even if I saw cops checking rides further up I had no where to go. After turning on my scanner I herd them talking about unit traction problems so I breathed a bit easier.
Maybe 10 mins later a Southbound IM rolls by at a catchable speed. I watched it for a bit then I was like, fuck this will have a Middle DPU! Since I was literally just riding up to Cartier then coming back why not just grab this train. Cartier was only 30 mins or so past where we had stopped so this made perfect sense. I got my gear out of the grainer, placed it on the porch, got trackside and waited for the DPU to roll by.
The DPU came but was rolling just a bit to fast to throw my bag on, grab my sleeping gear, throw it on, then climb on. I would have to have done it while running in between trains on snow and ice. I started too but the thought of throwing my bag on and then not being able to get on and loosing my shit wasn't worth it. It would have been easy to bag in summertime or san a bunch of gear, which made it harder to cope with.
Depressed I watched the DPU roll around the corner and out of sight, back into the grainer I guess. Not long after that the IM stops. Heart racing I'm like okay should I run back and try to get the DPU? what if I go for it, the both trains leave and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere. I realized it wasn't something I could pawn over for much time so I said fuck it lets go for it.

Grabbing my shit I start making my way back, not entirely sure how far back it is by now. I couldn't hear the unit so I knew it was a bit of a ways. The whole time I'm walking Im eyeing my train to keep the closest best ride in my sights encase I cant grab the unit and my GM leaves, luckily its almost all grainers.
Finally I get to the idling DUP and climb up the back end ladder. I make my way around and up to the side door as it breaks air and the compressor revs up. Just as Im about to open the side door I see a guy with a hat sitting inside.
FUCK, I freeze and then start to walk backwards slowly in hopes he doesn't know I'm there. Next thing I know he turns around and looks right at me. I kind of gesture like "man I'm leaving" but he waves me forward. So now I'm like great this guys some dick head employee who's going to be like your going nowhere till the cops show up. We're parked in between two small mountains, I got a ton of gear, nowhere to run too. Next thing he opens the door and BAM, face tats..alls good!

At first I though fuck maybe its Murt, maybe he got my email that I was in Mactier and switched from CN to CP in Winnipeg. That would have been sick but sadly no, it was a Van city crusty kid who was TO bound to see some friends. It turned out the train with unit problems I picked up on my scanner was his not mine, and he had been seriously delayed on his trip east.
The rear unit was having traction problems and he had just spent 5 hours waiting in Cartier while they tried to work on it. The usual 36hr Winnipeg to Toronto ride was already at 48 with still another CC to go. He was hoping to get to Vaughn before sun down so he could fly a sign but it was looking iffy at this point. Of course for me the past three times Ive been riding in Cartier my train had issues so I was like what is it with this place.
We listened to the on board radio to everything that was going on and maybe 30 mins later we where clear of Sudburry and heading southbound. I had a flask of whiskey as well as some left in a bottle, plus beer. So I'm like "hey man you want to drink a bit", and hes like "fuck ya". I go into my bag and search for the bottle and quickly realize I left it sitting in the snow trackside in Mactier when I rushed for the train....FUCK. Well I still had the flask and beer so we made the best of it.

We talked trains, traded some books (managed to score a detailed manual he has been writing) and he even taught me a new thing or two which is always sweet. All in all it was a great run in and I left happy it happened. These run ins have been happening more frequently these days which so far has been a good thing.
In the end Murt ended up on a train south out of Chicago and never made it up...next time I guess

What about you guys and good/bad random surprise encounters while hopping freights?


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## 1544c (Mar 17, 2012)

i was ridding a DPU through Omaha NE going towards Chicago.
we're rolling real slow and i'm just sitting on the ground and i hear the front latch open, then the cab door opens and some drunk black dude walks in. i'm a little surprised.
"is this train going to Des Moines?" he asks
"nope, it may stop in Boone Iowa, it's passing north of Des Moines through Ames"
"well if it doesn't stop in boone or ames i'm just going to hit the emergency break"
"hell no you ain't! you're getting off in Boone if it stops or Clinton IA with me (that's where i'm heading). i don't want to stay on here if you're going to hit the break. get off and get another train if that's what you're gonna do"
so i convince the guy not to pull the break.
i stay awake across iowa. small talk. i'm slightly sketched out just cuz this guy has no etiquette and i don't want to be on this train if this fucker is going to pull the E-break
so we ride past Boone without stopping and all the way to clinton without incident. if you've ridden this line before you know the trains do a lot of stop-and-go stop-and-go. i can see the lights of what i believe is clinton off in the distance after we pass through DeWitt IA. the train comes to a stop in the middle of nowhere.
"hey, we're getting close man"
"we're doing a crew change, i don't want to go to chicago"
"yeah they're not doing a crew change here, they're waiting for clearance. they do the CC in clinton"
"NO! they're doing the crew change here and i'm bailing!"
"uh okay, you're going to have a long walk to clinton though"
the guy gets off in the dark and starts walking.
the train starts to move again. the lights i thought were clinton turn out to be Low Moor IA. still 10 miles out.
10 miles in the dark for him. we pull into clinton and i get off during the crew change
*advice:*
*listen to people who have ridden before*
that guy wanted to get out of Omaha to Des Moines and didn't get any closer, now he's in the dark on the opposite side of the state, no closer to Des Moines than where he started.

another story
ridding a DPU through ogden in the middle of summer. the DPU's AC knob is broken, if you had a pliers you could turn the knob and turn the AC on. we had none.
so we ride into ogden and are in the middle of a crew change and 3 traveler kids walk up to our DPU. i stick my head out the window and ask if they have a pliers.
they do
we invite them aboard and roll through with the AC blasting.
good kids


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