Eastern Railroad Discussion > Riders

How many of you have ever seen a genuine rider on a freight train? I know that they work hard to remain concealed and out of sight, but I'm curious about how many of you serious trainwatchers out there have actually seen a rider.

My experience in this area is very limited. Once in the early 70's a buddy and I were in an old (long-gone by now) junkyard near Bryan Ohio, and we saw two scrufy looking older guys riding a boxcar heading west on the NYC. I saw a hobo walking thru the yards in New Haven IN once, and my wife, who was driving, didn't want to stop and talk to him. Of course, I've seen riders in Britt IA, during the National Hobo Convention. Incidentially, the rider I saw in New Haven looked a LOT like Steamtrain Maury.

Anyone got anything to add here?

OhioTom

I usualy see at least one every time I'm up on the Magnolia Cutoff. Best place to see them is in one of the rear holes on the grainers. Tom

I saw riders on occasion on SP freights in California, but have almost never seen them in the east or Midwest except for some teens who hopped a C & O coal train in Columbus, OH.

Dave

I've seen a couple over the years on passing freight trains. Definitely harder to come by than in decades past, but there still out there in places.

Chris
K8CRQ

Ive seen several of them over the last 40 years, mostly in the midwest, most of them in partly open boxcar doorways. They sometimes wave but usually try to step back out of sight. It seems like every time Im out around KC that I see at least one. I have seen 3 riding in a gon on the SP near Bonner Springs KS. Another time there were 2 on an inbound grain car on the KCS.

A few years ago a scruffy guy walked up to me and asked where he was and if there were any place that might be able to help him. Guy said he was riding a train realized he was going the wrong direction and jumped off leaving his bag on the train. I wasn't from the area so couldn't help him much.
howeld

I saw a video on U-Tube where a young couple was riding in a well car behind a 40' container on BNSF in New Mexico. Somebody's kids!!

I saw 2 hoboes riding in a gondola car at the end of a D&RGW (maybe it was SP by then?) freight running through the Royal Gorge.

On the 10MPH line between Waterville and Skowhegan ME my buddy and I saw a guy riding atop a boxcar. We shot a photo of him (poor photo but you can see him). At the next crossing, he was gone...

the Orange Juice train is popular too. Look in the cubbies at the end of the white refers where they have the riding platform. Your bound to see someone on there at least once a week.


Now that the weather is getting colder, they might be holed-up in the trailing locomotive if it is getting close to night time. I don't know how many times I've gone back there to use the toilet or reset the Ground Relay and found somebody sleeping on the floor or curled up in the seat. I usually leave them alone and tell them not to touch anything.

A lot of them used to curl up under the axles under a trailer on a TOFC. I've been told by a couple that those 80' flats are the smoothest and quietest ride. (No flange squeal)

I just remembered, back around 1970 or so (when I had a Kodak instamatic 126 camera), I saw this hobo riding on an eastbound EL train near Silver Springs NY.

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