Been lurking for quite some time.

[Sroek]

Decided to register. Great site, great community. Would like to see the site expand from just appealing to gutterpunks and squatters to vagabonds of all types.

Perhaps I'll meet a few of you on my travels. Stay safe.

 

[EphemeralStick]

welcome to the site! there are a good amount of squatters and vagabonds on here but we could always use a few more. happy travels!

 

[Jimmy Beans]

Would like to see the site expand from just appealing to gutterpunks and squatters to vagabonds of all types.

Apparently I'm lost? Could I get some directions outta here, anybody?

Ohh, haha....that totally reminded me of Jack London Square. When I was runnin trains through there on weekends and the streets were alive in the evenings I'd often bring my train to a stop next to a large crowd of bystanders, open my window and lean out to ask them "Hey, we're a bit lost. Could you help us out with some directions to the paramount theatre?" A lot of them would have a laugh but I was able to get a guy to throw up his arm, index finger extended, twisting at his waist and started to direct me before putting it together we came in on tracks and couldn't just make a left on the next street even if we wanted to. Not the funniest story but hey.. kinda tough to have fun in a locomotive so that's about as creative as I could get.
This now reminds me of another short story. I think I only did this a couple, maybe a few times but it was good for a laugh everytime. I'd be barreling down the mainline doing 70-50mph, whatever the train was legal to run and far ahead I'd see that familiar scene. Three kids about 9 to 12 years old all running up to the tracks. They'd lean down and place something small on the track and run back down the ballast rock to a shady tree and wait. I knew what they put on the rail, it's seldom anything other than a bunch of pennies and every now and then a nickel, dime, or quarter. I'd usually talk my conductor into this because I'm more the type to hatch a evil plan than the one to deliver it.
I'd get after the air, setting up first service then squeeze off a little more to really get those brakes warm, throttle stays in notch 3-4 and I'd basically drag the set to a perfect stop(stretch braking) bringing the locomotive within a few feet at most of the coins the boys had placed on the rail. I'd have the conductor in the nose of the cab at the door ready and the moment we stopped he'd get out in one swift motion down the steps he'd land on the rock, reach down and gather up all the coin and just as fast he was back up the steps opening the door and I'd kick the brakes off and we were gone. The look on those kids faces was always priceless. Great train robbery remix.
Ugh, I really gotta find a better place to put these. Sometimes a thread just reminds me of something and I tell the story there, then it's lost in the shuffle. Anyhow I got one last short one I gotta put on text.
I was a fireman(student engineer) at the time. I was called on duty for some east bound stacks from Oakland to Roseville. We departed Oakland, the engineer wasn't letting me run because he had some levels (strikes against an engineers record, bad boy list) and he didn't want to take any chances with a student doing the wrong thing at the controls. His name was Chris W, he was about 24 years old and a pretty funny cat. I liked firing for him even though I never got to run. Well, we were following an Amtrak and we heard over the radio the Amtrak engineer call the dispatcher and tell him there were kids just east of Gilman street in Berkeley under a small overpass throwing rocks at their train. The dispatcher finished his conversation with them then contacted us, he asked if we coppied the conversation he just had with Amtrak. We told him yes we understood the natives were unfriendly ahead and we'd keep our windows closed.
About 15 minutes later we're coming up on Gilman St. and Chris gets up out of his seat and goes after a six pack of water bottles in the ice box. He then unwraps the pack and places a few in front of him on the console. He had a big shit eatin grin and said he was gonna teach those kids a lesson. We were crossing over Gilman and shortly after on the right of way we saw a couple silhouettes, he got all perched up in his seat and opened up his window. He leaned out and observed. As we got closer we all pretty much at the same time said "just bums" as the light had lit the silhouettes up it was clear these two were haggard as fuck and in no shape to be huckin rocks at trains. He loosened up his posture and kept a keen eye out the front window again. As we were nearing the overpass we started to make out more silhouettes just beyond the overpass to the right.
There were several of them and we were sure these were the same knuckleheads throwin stones at the Amtrak ahead of us. As we got close Chris again perched up in his seat, bottle in hand out the window drawn back cocked and ready. We got just in range where he could let it fly and that's what he did. He threw that damn bottle like he was trying to take someones head off with it. I imagine the forces added to the speed of our train must have really put some high velocity on that bottle. As the bottle was flipping through the air ahead of us to an angle right at the silhouettes it was like slow motion, I could see it all unfolding. The light from the locomotive seemed to fade just at the point the figures were standing but it was in range to give a dim light on them, their police issued maglights also helped us to make out they were not the kids, but a bunch of pigs instead.
It was something that felt straight out of the movies and I won't forget how our faces all dropped jaw in sinc. Seeing the pigs instantly took our sights off the bottle flipping at high speeds towards them in the air. None of us could confirm or deny whether or not that bottle hit one of them but we never received a call or anything that followed up afterward so we can only assume the light of the locomotive was blinding them enough they couldn't see it, the sound and vibration of the train was enough to muffle the bottle hitting the ground next to them, in front of them, where ever it landed. Tune in next week, I'll tell the story of the young man who killed himself, hanging a rope from the A street overpass in Hayward, dangling in front of our train like a piñata.

 

[reallifeisnocool]

I'm a vagabond, 0% gutterpunk, and only a little squatter.

 

[Sroek]

welcome to the site! there are a good amount of squatters and vagabonds on here but we could always use a few more. happy travels!

Thanks for the welcome, same to you.

[wall of text]

That's quite a collection of stories. Keep 'em coming.

I'm a vagabond, 0% gutterpunk, and only a little squatter.

I can dig that.