I don't recommend this mode of travel now that I am wiser. However in my younger years I used to hop a train on the order of about a weekend every month. I used to go camping in remote sites that the freight trains would take me to. As a kid i ignored the signs saying it was illegal.
This adventure let me ride trains out of Oroville, CA into the high sierras. I was always amazed how a yard could be so empty, but when a train came in you would see guys come out of hiding spots just to get on.
It is quite dangerous though. I had several close calls where if I'd slipped, i'd have lost a leg. The train does not forgive. One time I was riding in an engine and a brakeman popped into the compartment and basically told me I could ride there, just don't touch anything. Turns out he had done the same thing when he was my age. On another trek in the dead of winter, I left my water container out in the wind on a flat car and it was frozen by morning. I found the best trains to get on were ones carrying vehicles or us mail. Those were less likely to leave you stranded in the middle of no-wheres-ville.
Now that I am older and wiser, I wouldn't hop a freight train. I'm not as agile and it is quite dangerous. Plus, it IS illegal.
March 02, 2019 at 11:17PM
