catfish
Member
For those of you who have never been to Hamlet, here is something that may change your mind.
I was catching south out of Richmond back in early February to meet up with Bones who had gotten split up with me earlier that week. He had told me he was going to get the hamlet train to go pick up some material from Rebel at the RR museum. I caught junk south around 4 30 am, knowing that I was on the Hamlet train... around 7 30pm we rolled into the siding right outside of Hamlet and I walked about 4 miles to the RR museum where I thought bones would be. The museum was closed so I found a payphone and called my girl back in Richmond to see if he had called her. He did, she gave me the number, and I called him... He had called me from some kind of chicken place out by the walmart and the lady on the phone said "yeah hes still out here asking people for money, hang on ill get him". I talked to bones and we decided to meet eachother half way between me and walmart (which is about 8 miles from the yard) once we got to the walmart we decided to set up camp behind it so we could start flying early the next day. We gathered a bunch of pallets and stacked them up for a fire, we started burning one and we saw blue lights at the top of the hill (keep in mind, were only about 75 feet behind walmart) and the the cop walks down the hill and says "isnt it a little cold to be campin'" i just said "no sir, were just passin through, if we need to leave i understand". He rambled on for a few minutes about how cold it was ACTUALLY going to get that night (22 degrees), and then said "yall are fine, ill send another unit to check on you in the morning". I didnt sleep well that night at all, the outside of my sleeping bag had ice on it, and i was pissed. I got out of my bag around 11am and burnt a couple more pallets for shits and giggles, then made my way to the intersection to fly... the cops met me there with some sonic breakfast and permission to fly my sign all day. bones made his way out of camp around 3pm and we continued to fly. We made about 200 dollars and decided to hitch a ride to the departure yard... we walk up to this man pumping gas at the citgo and tell him we are in need of a ride to the train yard, we use trains for transportation, and we can give him some money... he said "i dont know you for a can of paint, get in the bed, and i dont want your money". This guy drove about 85mph down these back country roads, its freezing cold, and Im shitting my pants. This guy took us down this dirt road to the CSX mechanical office, got out, walked in and waved us into the office... i had been here before and knew they were okay with riders, but didnt know they housed them up. The guy that gave us a ride works for CSX, he runs brake tests, and slaps the freddies on before they head out. The guys in the yard shack told us that we can camp out back set up a fire and told us when the NOLA train was leaving 24 hours from now. So we walked about 30 or so yards back into the woods and dug a fire pit and made a small fire. About an hour or so later we see flash lights coming towards us... its the same workers and they ask us if we need anything from the store. Needless to say we gave them about $50 and a list. They got back and said "we couldnt find it all at the gas station so we went to walmart"... they had bought themselves a case of beer as their tip.. which i was down with. We talked and drank with them until about 4 am when they shift changed. The other group came in and told us we were fine but not to touch anything. I slept throughout the day and finally got woken up by one of the workers telling us that he had just slapped the freddie on and he was going to drive us to 2nd power. I was a bit sketched out, but he said he knew the crew.
Hamlet is where most junk originates in the south, they have a daily train to just about anywhere csx you can think of. Its really easy to figure shit out there, even without the workers. If you get the chance you should swing through there. View attachment 8918
I was catching south out of Richmond back in early February to meet up with Bones who had gotten split up with me earlier that week. He had told me he was going to get the hamlet train to go pick up some material from Rebel at the RR museum. I caught junk south around 4 30 am, knowing that I was on the Hamlet train... around 7 30pm we rolled into the siding right outside of Hamlet and I walked about 4 miles to the RR museum where I thought bones would be. The museum was closed so I found a payphone and called my girl back in Richmond to see if he had called her. He did, she gave me the number, and I called him... He had called me from some kind of chicken place out by the walmart and the lady on the phone said "yeah hes still out here asking people for money, hang on ill get him". I talked to bones and we decided to meet eachother half way between me and walmart (which is about 8 miles from the yard) once we got to the walmart we decided to set up camp behind it so we could start flying early the next day. We gathered a bunch of pallets and stacked them up for a fire, we started burning one and we saw blue lights at the top of the hill (keep in mind, were only about 75 feet behind walmart) and the the cop walks down the hill and says "isnt it a little cold to be campin'" i just said "no sir, were just passin through, if we need to leave i understand". He rambled on for a few minutes about how cold it was ACTUALLY going to get that night (22 degrees), and then said "yall are fine, ill send another unit to check on you in the morning". I didnt sleep well that night at all, the outside of my sleeping bag had ice on it, and i was pissed. I got out of my bag around 11am and burnt a couple more pallets for shits and giggles, then made my way to the intersection to fly... the cops met me there with some sonic breakfast and permission to fly my sign all day. bones made his way out of camp around 3pm and we continued to fly. We made about 200 dollars and decided to hitch a ride to the departure yard... we walk up to this man pumping gas at the citgo and tell him we are in need of a ride to the train yard, we use trains for transportation, and we can give him some money... he said "i dont know you for a can of paint, get in the bed, and i dont want your money". This guy drove about 85mph down these back country roads, its freezing cold, and Im shitting my pants. This guy took us down this dirt road to the CSX mechanical office, got out, walked in and waved us into the office... i had been here before and knew they were okay with riders, but didnt know they housed them up. The guy that gave us a ride works for CSX, he runs brake tests, and slaps the freddies on before they head out. The guys in the yard shack told us that we can camp out back set up a fire and told us when the NOLA train was leaving 24 hours from now. So we walked about 30 or so yards back into the woods and dug a fire pit and made a small fire. About an hour or so later we see flash lights coming towards us... its the same workers and they ask us if we need anything from the store. Needless to say we gave them about $50 and a list. They got back and said "we couldnt find it all at the gas station so we went to walmart"... they had bought themselves a case of beer as their tip.. which i was down with. We talked and drank with them until about 4 am when they shift changed. The other group came in and told us we were fine but not to touch anything. I slept throughout the day and finally got woken up by one of the workers telling us that he had just slapped the freddie on and he was going to drive us to 2nd power. I was a bit sketched out, but he said he knew the crew.
Hamlet is where most junk originates in the south, they have a daily train to just about anywhere csx you can think of. Its really easy to figure shit out there, even without the workers. If you get the chance you should swing through there. View attachment 8918
