Do hobos still ride the rails?

Question

Do hobos still ride the rails?

Answer 1

Sure they do.  But trains and hobos have both changed a lot, and as a result it's a lot more dangerous.

"Hobos" go back to the Great Depression (1930's), when times were hard, and hobos were mainly intelligent, honest people trying to get by  That is certainly no longer the case.  Nowadays, rail riders tend to be violent drug dealers, illegal immigrants, and today's type of homeless person, often mentally ill.

Railroads have also dramatically changed.  

There are a lot fewer rail lines (especially in the east and grain country) and a lot more traffic on the remaining lines.  (the railroads turned around in the 1980s with deregulation, and are now laying new rail as fast as they can.)

Liability has changed dramatically since the 1930s.  Railroads are now extremely intolerant of freight hoppers, both because of the danger (and therefore liability) and  especially since they tend to be criminals in other respects. Railroads don't like goods getting damaged in shipment, as  they now have stiff competition from trucks.

Modern railroad cars are designed to deny shelter to would-be stowaways.  The era of "riding the rods" is over. ("truss rods" are bracing on wooden cars; hobos would lay some planks across the truss rods, and ride there.)

Railroad operations no longer lend themselves to hopping freights.  In the Depression era, trains stopped quite often to take on coal and water, to change crews and to go into yards.  This assured plenty of places to hop on and off.  Nowadays, a train can pull out of a major terminal which can be quite distant from a town, and travel at 20-60 mph for 10 hours without stopping.  That's a long, long time to hang onto the side of a railroad car designed to give you nowhere to hang onto.

Railroads are also much more diligent about locking boxcar doors - for another good reason.  If someone gets locked inside a boxcar, they can't get out, the car could be parked in a very remote location, and it might be weeks before they are found. A horrid, slow death for anyone trapped inside.

Answer 2

After a number of serious injuries and a few fatlities, it appears that they have finally smatened up and decided to forego riding the rails. They now ride the trains instead.

Answer 3

In recent decades, the traditional role of hobos as itinerant workers has fallen off, largely because of increasing prosperity. Most itinerant workers in modern times have automobiles and drive between jobs, alternatively they may use public transportation, and live in many types of temporary housing.

Increasingly, as seasonal agricultural work became the province of illegal immigrants, and other seasonal work became increasingly lucrative, freighthopping became mainly used by the homeless population, by thrill seekers, youths who have adopted the lifestyle as an expression of rebellion against society, and people who enjoy traveling across the countryside under the open air.

In recent years there has been an increase in crime targeted at the rail-riding homeless population and other freighthoppers by other itinerants. Retired Spokane police officer Bob Grandinetti attributes this largely to the rise of an itinerant group calling themselves the 'FTRA' or Freight Train Riders of America. Whether the FTRA is as violent as claimed by Grandinetti is in some dispute. Other increases in crime targeted at freighthoppers can be attributed to the general increase in violence and urban gang activity around train yards in such locations as Los Angeles.

Another reason the practice is declining is because the nature of the way goods are being transported, with the traditional boxcar giving way to more secure plug door cars, and eventually shipping containers, which are not friendly to people riding.

Even flatcars are becoming increasingly open, making life harder for Freighthoppers.

Also, the close and decline of much of the rail network has made the practice less common.

The Freight Train Riders of America (FTRA) is an American gang of homeless men who move about in railroad cars, particularly in the northwestern United States.

The FTRA was founded by homeless veterans of the Vietnam War in a Montana bar in the 1980s.

****Update****  This question is one I've been asking myself for sometime.  It's been kind of a fantasy of mine, to ride the rails for a few weeks, just to see where I end up.  This is the reason I took a little time to research the subject.  My answer was obviously taken from Wikipedia, but I am so thrilled to see the answers that followed, people that have the knowledge first hand.  At this time, it doesn't seem to practical or safe to hitch a ride on the rails .... but I can still dream!

Answer 4

Where I work they've had a couple incidents of vagrants riding into town on trains.  There was one van driver who transports us who told me he arrived to the town I work in by train.  He was like 50 years old and I figured it was a long time ago but it was only like a year or two ago.

Answer 5

We still see a few every now and again. Usually they want to know which trains are going where.

I'll try and help them find a good boxcar and give them a few bottles of water and maybe a crew pack or 2. I have given a couple of guys my lunch because they looked like they were starving.

Most are harmless but you never know. I just believe in treating everyone the way I want to be treated.

But yes, in answer to your question, they are still around.

Answer 6

Yeah, there's still some around, but not as many as in the past. I work in Minnesota, and so they are seasonal. In the early 90s, I had a railroad job at night in a large switching yard. There were quite a few then. They were always civil and respectful of the trainmen. The ones I encountered anyway. Usually they're just asking for info about which train goes where, and when. Still others knew more of this info than I did. Now, I'm an engineer on a short line, and I don't see 'em as much.  I have a few very good stories about some of the hobos though. Some still make me laugh when I think about 'em. Some were real characters. I can E-mail a couple if you want to read them. If so, contact me.

Answer 7

short answer: no. RR regulations require doors/hatches to be closed & locked.  Heavy police patrols and even imaging software that distinguishes body forms on trains. (out west it still occurs fairly often).  --IC

Answer 8

Yes they do, as a matter of fact, I had one on a train that I was working on just a few days ago.  He was just trying to get from one place to another.

Answer 9

they still do in california

Answer 10

yes

Answer 11

Actually, they still do. During certain seasons and events in our area you'll see the amount of hobos increase. They vary in age but you'd be surprised to know that most of the hobos I see are young people.

Answer 12

yes but I can add a bit to what rex said about FTRA and they are a violent gang that has been attributed to several murders of hobos.

I have heard they are involved in interstate drug trafficking and have no proof but it sounds logical

Anyway, the amount of traditional hobos is a lot less than it was in years past.

When I started in the 1970's it was pretty common to see 'bos hopping a train, nobody gave them much trouble, sometimes if it was bitterly cold I told them to ride a cab in a trailing locomotive.

Not any more, there is a totally different type of hobo and several times railroad employees have been attacked so the security is a lot more agressive in removing riders.

Hobos are still there but they are on the decline and rarely travel alone.