hop trains

its a litle optimistic to think that you can easily hop on a freight train and end up on the other side of the country while having met all sorts of freindly people along the way, but i still want to try this. its not a bad way to travel, just a bit dangerous, and i really love the freedom that is coupled with the idea of watching the country fly by

Where I live, this is very possible. Now all I have to do is find a tall person to go with me for the blame and the sheer helluvit.^_.

I freakin love train-hopping. I live in one of the best cities for it in the southeast. I’m usually willing to take a trip just about anytime. Need tips, I’m not incredibly experienced but I can try to help

Yeah,
just about.
You won;t know where your going and meet cool people along the way, free to leave whenever you please.

I am friendly and curious and quite easy to get along with. Is there anyone out there that would be willing to give me some hands on lessons with this? Let me know!

We were supposed to hop from Newark to Chicago and then out west. It was February, cold, and miserable. It took us a week of hopping and hitchhiking and just generally f’ing around and we never did make it to Chicago- got to see St.Louis though. At one point we rode for 11 hours over night through a freezing ice storm almost completely exposed at 70 mph. I really did think I was going to die not only because of the cold, but we were under the axel of a piggy back and it started slowly but surely lowering down on us. It sucked in a way, but I’ve never laughed so much or had so much fun and such adventure- ever. Thanks to my boys- Josh and Ben.

I’ve never done this before but would love to. I’ve been searching around, and I’ve decided I’ll do this one in the fall because I’d love to see the foliage! I picked this info up off a site..

“1.) The LAMOILLE VALLEY (L.V.R.C.) and MAINE CENTRAL (M.C.) between Sheldon Junction, VT and Portland, ME. Ride over the Green Mountains and White Mountains of northern New England, especially beautiful during the colorful autumn.”

Anyone wanna teach a newbie? I’ll quite possibly be bringing a friend along as well. :)

I used to climb on the train cars as a teen and one day heard a hissing sound coming from the top of the tanker car I was on top of – DON’T EVER stick your nose near it and sniff – It hit me like a shovel in the face. I fell backwards and off the top of the tank car to the gravel below. It was Ammonia gas. I was young and foolish – Don’t do it.

Then there was the day I dropped down inside of an empty covered hopper that had cooking flour in it. It was empty and I slide down almost couldn’t get back out – Don’t do it.

Stay out from between the cars !! – Don’t do it.

When you take your bicycle with you remember it’s going to crash when you drop it out the boxcar door before you jump out after it. It’s a long walk after that. – Don’t do it.

Remember in the summer the metal on those railcars is hand blistering HOT – bring gloves. – Don’t do it.

When running along side and reaching up for the ladder be sure to look out for the ground signal lights … I knocked one over with my legs. – Don’t do it.

Bottom line – Don’t do it.

it’s dangerous and should not be attempted without someone who knows what they’re doing, but it is a beautiful experience. You get to see places where the cars can’t go.

Well, I expected it to be a little more planned out than it was but I GOt where I needed to be and had a lot of fun doing it.I was riding my bike over the Smokies From Knoxville to Asheville NC Than down to Greenville SC the plan was to make it back to JAcksonville Fl but my Bike could’nt take it anymore once I got into Greenville, so I hit the Library found the trainyard thanks to Google map watched as two trains chugged by then when the third southbound stopped threw my bike over my shoulder and hopped on. About 4 hours later I arrived in Atlanta which seemed like the best spot to get my bearings Hit up another library and found a sweet railmap of Georgia I was riding my bike around downtown when I rolled Up on Atlanta Critical mass which was so fucking sweet hundreds of bikes getting together to clog up the streets. Afterwards I went over to the south trainyard Where apperantly trains dont stop followed the tracks back a few miles and hopped on in the middle of downtown. 6 hours later after a wonderful sleep I thought I was somewhere in southern Georgia then after another 4 hours sitting in a trainyard as my train was being moved backwards and forwards around the yard I decided to find out where I was as it turned out the train had only gone about 10 miles south of Atlanta. I headed back downtown and caught another train down to Savannah where I ended my first hop with a greyhound the last 150 miles. It’s an awesome way to travel as long as your careful and have a lot of patiance bring a book some music and a couple
friends cause you may be sitting in one spot a long time.