So last night...

[Grasshopper]

Was a test run for the dinnerthieves.
Jon and i who have known each other for years FINALLY decided to hop and train without caring/knowing where it lead. It took us 3 or 4 years to reach this decision although i've been ready from the get! Last night was only a test-run to prove ourselves to one another, we also brought our friend tyler. We pack up our bags with non-perishable items and all of the other neccessities (Sleeping bags, flashlight, etc.) and called a friend to pick us up and take us to the Rocky Mount Train Station. We waited and waited.. Finally! A freight train comes by but is moving to fast so we decide not to hop on this one. A second one comes by but is moving to fast. Then, a third, and it is the perfect speed but no one goes for it. Soo we went up to the station and asked where the train yard was. We then walk three miles to the train yard jump a ditch and start exploring. I'd never been to one and it was HUGE. Basically we spent hours upon hours trying to figure shit out. Which would be the best to take and when we thought they were leaving and everything. We spent 8 hours trying to find one lurking around in the dark dodging the "bull." Finally after 8 hours in the cold i decided fuckit let's just ask one of the yard workers (keep in mind we three are new to this) and he was friendly enough to tell us when the next train was leaving which was at 7:30 am! So we got into a train car where people had previously occupied and slept with intentions of going home in the morning since we all proved ourselves. Last night was horrid, everyone slept but me. i had a hole in the bottom of my sleeping bag and my shoes were off so my feet froze until i finally figured out that there was a hole. Basically last night was the first day of my life and i loved it although the conditions were rough.

We head out in January so if there is anyone in the area who wants to tag along, letmeknow! I've posted my email add and myspace in the introduction forum if you are interested.

and all of you experienced train hoppers, i would love some feedback and advice.

sorry the stories so "piecey" i'm out of it and golden corral is on my mind

thanks
peace

-Brandon

 

[Grasshopper]

Thanks I've always wanted to but everyone i know cares to much of what people think. Now that I've finally found a few worthy mates i can finally be happy. Being here has stripped everything from me. Maybe we can meet someday in this life or the next.


Care to share the Austin Flashback? I'm always in the mood for a good story!

 

[dVEC]

Normally I tell people not to even try getting on a train without an experienced person's guidance. But you seem so 100% determined to do it that I might as well aim for harm reduction. Still pretty dumb, though - you should wait until you can be shown the ropes.

Don't try to get on a moving train. Ever, really. But definitely not until you really know what you're doing (especially regarding how you're packed). Trains will stop at least once every 9 hours to change crews; it's illegal for one crew to work longer than that. Rocky Mount is a crew-change point; there should be trains stopped there often. Generally they'll stop for 15-45 minutes, depending on priority.

Definitely have your gear ready for cold weather, as you've learned. On most cars, you lose a ton of heat into the metal floor - cardboard/carpet/foam pad/thermarest etc. is your friend, hardcore.

And yes, bring water. Nothing else if not that.

 

[Grasshopper]

Thanks so much, i really appreciate the advice.
Proper guidance is definitely needed here, I am waiting until January for my next attempt. Maybe by then i will have found guidance or will have built up enough information from reading to get away from here.

 

[kai]

I think if you've got yourself down to the yard already and watched trains and tried to figure it out for yourself, regardless of having any experienced person with you, you are light years ahead of alot of people I see on this site coming for advice on how to hop/travel. One of the key elements to managing life on the road is being self-reliant and figuring things out for yourself. I started riding without anyone experienced with me, I just asked about ride-ables, how to spot rideables . Although I do live in canada so generally getting around is really straight forward, east/west routes.

I started hitchhiking alot and inevitably met riders, made friends with some, and ended up learning a few things along the way.

 

[Kobet Pahana]

that's not true kai, i was on your first ride with you, i still count you as a chooch point

 

[dVEC]

Why would you give them that advice? Instead of waiting to get his hand held by someone he should go and hangout near the local yards and get the feel for operations, types of rolling stock, and learn how the railroad operates, also he could get some foamer mags and a good railroad atlas and then he will be able to learn a good amount about trains and where they go.

You can very easily educate yourself about trains, where they go, and how to be around them safely if you use your brain.

That's actually a really good point. I should have been a little more open to ideas like that. But I still stand by my "rule" of not getting on a train until you're with someone experienced, for a couple reasons -

1) It's dangerous as shit and somebody should be there to call you on doing dumb stuff, which everyone does. Though I do admit that the safety issues can probably be learned on your own, just by reading the sentences "don't walk on the knuckles" and "keep three limbs touching something solid" and a couple others.

2) There's a lot of nuance to it, as far as figuring out what the trains you see/hear are doing (though this can be learned like Wilderstand suggests), but also about not getting caught that's hard to learn in any way other than hands-on. Also good comfort/time-passing tricks are best shared by experienced riders.

3) It's what I was always told before I rode a train, and I thought it was fair then, and I still think it's fair now. I'm personally glad as hell I didn't go ahead and try to do it on my own, it probably would've sucked.

But yeah, WS is still right.

You say it is illegal for a crew to work more then 9 hours? what is the source of this information? Last time I checked it was 8 hours at normal pay and 8 to 12 hours at overtime... At least thats what it is with UP and I am pretty much sure that apply's s to the big 6.

Also when you say a crew change is generally 15-45 minutes are you talking about a specific crew change or in general?

Hahaha I knew I was gonna get shit for the 9-hour shift comment, even before I posted it. I was just kinda averaging out the normal shift and occasional overtime.

And with the 15-45 remark I meant that that's how long a train will usually be stopped while changing crews in a yard like Rocky Mount. There's definitely a LOT of exceptions to this, but most are within this time range that I've seen. Actually, I should say that some junk can take HOURS to crew change, and that's just a barrel'a monkies when you're riding.

Damn, guess I ain't gonna get any slack here, but I don't know why I expected it. Correct/complete info is more important, though, so it's for the best.

 

[kai]

that's not true kai, i was on your first ride with you, i still count you as a chooch point

you still didn't count as someone experienced, you'd been on one 40 km ride before me, you get half a point

 

[sharks77]

Besides if someone dies riding trains and being
As for the not getting caught thing I just tell people to wear/pack a full size bunny costume that way when they are caught they can just be like "what I am hopping trains", then the cops will laugh and you will run away.

i lol'd

 

[veggieguy12]

All the crew changes (not counting stops for yd work or inspection/fueling) I can recall were either 5 min. or 90 min.
Um... yeah, I just double-thought it, and that's my experience.

 

[stove]

I've got to try that bunny suit thing. Anyone have a funky costume laying around somewhere willing to donate to a bad cause? If caught, I'll try my damnest to get into the news...

 

[Shoestring]

Y'all guys did what I did at first.
I never had nobody to show me. I just went out and did it. After roughly five years of non-stop riding, ...and I mean practically non-stop, all throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico, I just learned all the crew changes nationwide, fuel-ups, servicing, yard names, etc, etc, etc.....
I would only get off long enough to make a few bucks at the corner with my sign, buy food, beer, get water, etc...then later that day, I was on another train going somewhere else for four or five crew-changes in one trip until I needed more food/water again.
Finally after enough of doing this, you learn crew changes by heart, cars types, patterns, what AEI detectors are, how ABS & CTC work, who is your friend, who is not your friend, where the free food places are, where to get a free hot shower, where to get free clothing, what different track heights mean as with 65ppf rail, 85ppf rail, 115ppf rail all mean & how this coincides with where you are at in the yards or make up tracks, or arrival tracks, the bowl area, what type of braking systems that each hump-yards use to slow their railcars down once they head over the hump, there are piston type, air-squeeze type & these all make different sounding squeels/squeeches, and ding-ding, da ding, dang da ding, ping pang, what they look like, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.....You just get really good at riding without really ever running into problems, (if you're not drinking so heavy that it becomes a problem that is)! lol! haha!....Oh do I ever mean haha! haha!
57,000 miles was the most rail miles I ever rode in one single year, and this was in 1995! I just stayed out on the rails and would ride more than I would not ride. It did not matter to me that I was spending 95% of my living life on the rails moving and rolling, I was happy!
Also that year, there were three or four weeks that I rode well over 2,000 miles in one week, then there were weeks when I only rode 200 or 300 miles. My general routes were, but not limited to, Portland, Maine to Selkirk (Albany), New York, to Chicago, to North Platte, to Cheyenne, to Salt Lake City, to Roseville, to Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, to Spokane, to Havre, to Fargo, to Chicago, to New Orleans, to Mobile, to Jacksonville, to Waycross, to Rocky Mount, to DC, to Selkirk again, back to Portland, Maine....then start all over again, but I would switch around a bit every few rounds....Roseville, to Colton, to El Paso, to New Orleans, to Mobile, to Jacksonville, to Waycross, Rocky Mount, to DC, to Selkirk. Then switch back again, and around, and around, and around,........!!!! Whew! Even before I got this homebase where I'm at right now, I would average roughly 800 to 900 miles a week. Then of course there were times that I only rode 150 to 200-250 miles a week after 2002. Then this is when I started slowing down a bit, but still massive miles!
It was an obcession with riding that I had/still do have! I was not trying to break records or anything, (do they keep records for this)? lol! I was just obcessed, that's all.......(Still am too)!

Also as well as water,......being humble to you're fellow riders as well will get you far, not to mention respect with other fellow riders that may just take you in under the wing, so-to-speak.....
Besides all the above,.........Do not get out there and try to hop while drinking!!! (I know that I did this more that not), but I was so, so, so, sooooo lucky to have not gotten killed!!! If I were to go back and have to do it all over again in the same order, I would have a near 100% chance the second time around of being KILLED!!! I honestly believe that I had nine lives and even more!!! Please wait until you get into a safe environment before popping the top on that cold beer!
The above as well is only what I've experienced "personally", and there are not a lot of folks out there that did it this way....All that you have to do is put two and two together, add 325,000 miles worth of rails, add the booze that I've drank, add the stupidity I had at first, add the places that I hopped, etc, etc, etc...now can you see how lucky I was? (I SHOULD NOT be here today on this computer)! That was just "pure luck" that I made it out alive, so I'm not trying to say you'll have all the luck I had, because you'll have about a 99.9% chance of you're experiences going the exact other way....just as I had a 99.9% chance of my experiences being the way that they were! !!!JUST BE CAREFUL!!! .....!!!USE YOUR NOGGIN!!!....... !!!LISTEN TO THE ONES WHO HAVE DONE IT MANY TIMES!!! ....... !!!NEVER SMART OFF TO THE BULLS!!! .....!!!USE, YES SIR, NO SIR TO THE BULLS!!! if you plan on doing this more.
Just be careful, because you "WILL" run into things that make you think twice about what you're doing riding freight trains!!! It's not a bed-of-roses out on the rails, but also at the same time, it's what you make out of it! It can be a horrible experience, or it can wind up being the best thing that you ever did in your live too!
You can make a worthwhile life for yourself on the rails, but always make "Safety First" you're main number one priority!

So, I tip my hat to you for getting out and giving it a shot at least!
Good luck next time too.......

 

[Dmac]

first, i don't evan want to know what type of foamer mag's wider is talking about! second, if either shoestring or widerstand cannot help ya out probably nobody here can. good luck, don't be stupid and let us know what happens, alright?

 

[Speedy]

Has anyone heard from miraclesun, did he make his first trip or what?

 

[jacobhobbs]

Shoestring... I need some assistance. sheck out my thread and let me know what you think

 

[thedrty]

Ay mait.... Good luck on the travels and ride safe....4 things to remeber
1. slack action....HOLD ON TIGHT AND SIT THE FUCK DOWN
2. the knuckle....DO NOT STEP ON THIS OR YOUR FUCKED
3. 3 points contact....2 FEET 1 HAND..2 HANDS 1 FOOT...3 POINTS OF CONTACT AT ALL TIMES
4. On the fly...DONT HOP ON THE FLY UNTIL YOU GOT EXPERIENCE
oh and an addon.... Figure out the diffrence between suicides and rideables

 

[thedrty]

if you want i can meet you somewhere and show you the ropes as well...idgaf

 

[Desperado Deluxe]

Ay mait.... Good luck on the travels and ride safe....4 things to remeber
1. slack action....HOLD ON TIGHT AND SIT THE FUCK DOWN
2. the knuckle....DO NOT STEP ON THIS OR YOUR FUCKED
3. 3 points contact....2 FEET 1 HAND..2 HANDS 1 FOOT...3 POINTS OF CONTACT AT ALL TIMES
4. On the fly...DONT HOP ON THE FLY UNTIL YOU GOT EXPERIENCE
oh and an addon.... Figure out the diffrence between suicides and rideables

this is a really old thread dude.

 

[Coywolf]

I didn't even know shoestring was on here, lol

 

[Odin]

Ay mait.... Good luck on the travels and ride safe....4 things to remeber
1. slack action....HOLD ON TIGHT AND SIT THE FUCK DOWN
2. the knuckle....DO NOT STEP ON THIS OR YOUR FUCKED
3. 3 points contact....2 FEET 1 HAND..2 HANDS 1 FOOT...3 POINTS OF CONTACT AT ALL TIMES
4. On the fly...DONT HOP ON THE FLY UNTIL YOU GOT EXPERIENCE
oh and an addon.... Figure out the diffrence between suicides and rideables

Are you overcompensating for the size of your train? ::cigar::