Nostalgia & History > Being a rail fan in a more innocent time

A little freight riding and a lot of other long gone stuff here. Tom Hallendorf movies
posted on TO first several years ago. Movie taken in 1967.

Regards, Jim Evans

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Wonderful photos, Bob.

I've done my share of riding. Dangerous? Yes. But sometimes I wonder any more dangerous than driving LA freeways. Arrested? No. But came close. If you were reasonable, they just told you to hit the road.  Folks didn't hammer you so hard like nowadays.

 

Holy Smokes! Bob, I di the same thing around the same time. I would do it on a Friday or Saturday night as the TBX left Bayshore Yard at 3:00AM back then. At 1:00am the frieght to Tracy left and we've get there around 8:00am or so. The TBX arrived at Oakland around 7:00 or 8:00AM, depending hiow much switching they did at the salt works and others. (I can't remember the station name.) Like you I'd ride the bus, but it was on a AC transit bus, and then a ride home on the N-Judah streetcar. Somewhere I have about 3 minutes of old movies I took on one of those TBX adventures. - Tony J.

Oh guys, the stories that could be told...
My mom always dreaded getting those collect calls from me: "Well, Mom... you'll never guess where I am!"
They certainly were more innocent times.

---

---

---

Now you did it, going to be a whole lot of pearl-clutching going on... :-))
 

BoilingMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like maybe Hardy’s (or a name close to
> that). It was a Bay Area chain in those days
> (like Doggie Diner)- burgers for 15 cents,
> cheeseburgers for .25. We bought a big sack of
> them and used them for poker chips one night.
> SR

That burger joint at the corner of “D” & Washington sts. in Petaluma had some generic name like “the Snack Stand” or something of the sort, but was known far & wide by all Petalumans as The Scarf & Barf. While on the topic of hopping trains......In our early 20’s me & my buddy -a railroader who lurks on this site & will remain unnamed- caught a couple trains. Both night trains going east to Willits. Once departing Pet. about 7 PM in a boxcar to Cloverdale where we got off, & caught our trains westward counterpart, riding atop a flatcar load of lumber, arriving back home about 5AM, and on another occasion we noticed some open-air passenger cars for the California Western came into town on the day train from Fairfield & decided to ride those north that night, detraining on the fly in Healdsburg where his girlfriend driving a “chase car” picked us up. We’re all older & wiser, & times have changed, but I wonder if this still goes on with adventuresome youngsters who know no better?

Desmond Praetzel, “4451 Puff”
Petaluma resident 1975-2007
 

from the 1970's thru 2005.....I got more cab rides than I can probably  remember.  All really classic diesels or electrics.  And then there were great vestibule rides on passenger trains.....and a couple trips across the country I bummed on  aircraft cockpit jump seats.

The one trip i missed...an offer to ride in the cab of a Via F-9 from Montreal to Jonquiere and back.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/20 01:55 by pdt.

Must admit I never rode a freight train in anywhere but the locomotive cab, but I was fortunate. Hanging around small yards in Baltimore long enough taking pictures of the railroaders working became a ticket to ride. I would return the favor by taking pictures of the crews and giving them copies. I became somewhat of a celebrity with the local guys, and got the "come on up" many times. I would not trade those earliest experiences for anything I did railfanning after those formative days in the early to mid sixties. Truly my fondest memories! Excellent post Bob.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

Great stories of great adventures.  Thank you all for sharing.

WestinAshahr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh guys, the stories that could be told...
> My mom always dreaded getting those collect calls from me: "Well, Mom... you'll never guess where I
> am!"

Yeah, your Dad tells some pretty good tales on you, too!
Too bad we didn't know each other back then!  We could have had some great times together!

Hopmere Hank

WestinAshahr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh guys, the stories that could be told...
> My mom always dreaded getting those collect calls
> from me: "Well, Mom... you'll never guess where I
> am!"
> They certainly were more innocent times.

... and the first step was finding a phone!

My one trip hopping an open gondola was far from the carefree lark I had envisioned. Sometime in the mid-70's, when I was in my late teens, my thinking was. hey, riding an open gondola would be a gas, just like riding in an open convertible! So I boarded it at Argo in Seattle, figuring I'd get off in Tacoma and take the bus back. The train didn't slow enough in Tac to feel comforable jumping off as I hoped it would, so I stuck with it to see where it was going. Pretty soon it was at track speed, and the dirt, wood chips, etc. came swirling up at me from all directions, making it hard to see or breathe. It was a sweltering summer day, and I didn't have the good sense to even bring drinking water, and I was parched from the dirt that had gotten inside my mouth. Hours later I had long since tired of my adventure, and by the time I finally could disembark in Vancouver, I was miseable; every inch of my face, hands, and clothing covered in a thick crust of brown dirt and sweat. I knew I would be shunned by polite society if I was seen like that, even to seek out some local minimart for a cold drink, so the first thing I did was head down to the Columbia River and jump in, fully clothed, to cool off and wash off all the road grime. I figured being soaking wet was preferable to looking (and feeling) like a coal miner who hadn't showered in a month.

To summarize: kids, don't try this at home!​



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/20 10:34 by alally8444.

alally8444 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pretty soon it was at track speed, and the dirt, wood chips, etc.
> came swirling up at me from all directions, making it hard to see or breathe. 

Yeah.  Been there!
In early June of 1980 I hopped on the end of a southbound covered hopper rolling through Eugene, Oregon.  After settling in, I realized it had recently come through Volcanoville and was covered with 1/4" of volcanic ash!  Ugh!  Even though the train speed was low while grinding up the Cascades, there was still enough swirling wind gusts to make things miserable.  The good part was, I did have a giant plastic bag with me to capture lots of fresh air prior to entering the tunnels!

Hopmere Hank

"But I made it home alive - So you said that only proves that I'm insane"
 

My Mom always said:  "That kid's got more luck than sense"

I'd always figued this would go on my headstone.
But then, when my daughter was 10 she told a friend, "Yeah, he's fun-  but he's not always funny"

I may have to flip a coin
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Yeah, he's fun-  but he's not always funny"

That's awesome, especially coming from a kid.

Hopmere Hank