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Does anyone have any stories? I can remember that as a child in the 1940s growing up near a freight train route I would sit by the tracks and watch them go by.I would see people sitting in the freight cars with their legs dangeling.
Posts: 113 | From: San Antonio, Texas,USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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Most people (including myself) probably have little factual knowledge about hobos and the hobo lifestyle other than what we have read or seen on television or movies. The movie “Emperor of the North” which starred Lee Marvin was a fascinating depiction of that lifestyle during the Great Depression. From what I have read, the hobo lifestyle in this country is still very much in evidence. Last spring I was traveling aboard the Texas Eagle and when slowing down for the Austin, Texas station, the train passed a clearing in a wooded area next to the tracks. Strewn about was some old discarded furniture and three or four men who had a transient appearance to them. Was it a “Hobo Jungle”? I don’t know, but I believe it was. It would be interesting to hear from people who have first hand knowledge of this lifestyle which is a part of the American culture and history.
Posts: 3 | From: Honolulu, HI | Registered: Sep 2002
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There was a program on UK TV several months ago about people riding freight trains. Not hobos as such but middle class Brits and Americans riding freight trains illegally. It was quite interesting (mostly shot on home cameras) including the parts where they thought they were heading from Chicago towards LA and ended up in Atlanta... So, yes, I believe it is very much alive but hidden from view, especially in recent years.
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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I lived in Austin 81 - 93 , quite near the Amtrak Station and het tracks you are talking about WLGREY. In part because Austion is so temperate a climate so much of the year, there were many communities of transients and "homeless" people, primarily men, but women also, living in various wooded areas around town. Along the tracks, particularly in South Austin. Also around downtown where there were social services available, and day labor opportunities. Having been a Social Worker there I met many of those folks and I know that many traveled by hoping the trains as they slowed through downtown.
Quite a hobo community used to exist in Grand Junction CO where I also lived. There is a huge freight yard, and there used to be a long, wide overgrown area adjacent to it. That was cleared and the hobo living along with it. But Junction is, as recently as a 2000, still an easy place to hop a freight. I lived there for a while as well, worked near the freight yards. Saw guys with backpacks on the trains and coming from the yards every day. Heard some stories too about men who froze to death when they chose to ride a flat car into the mountains and got caught in a storm.
I worked part time as a cab driver in Junction. Got to drive train crews out into the desert and the mountains to replace crews at their time limit. Had many interesting conversations with the engineers and conductors crossing Utah and Colorado in the middle of the night. Some came from many generations of trainmen, others loved trains, and for others it was just a job and there was no romance with the rails. They sure worked under some rough conditions. Cab driving is no joy either, but at least the cab was warm, and quiet.
Posts: 300 | From: Denver, CO USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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I have a book called, "A Freight Hopper's Guide for North America." It was published in 1988. I believe riding the rails aboard freight cars remains an avocation of sorts. There is an annual hobo convention somewhere in the upper Midwest, too. The hobo's heart is drenched in wine. Some broken wish is on his mind. He's just a bag of bones, riding down the railroad alone...
Dave
Posts: 284 | From: Ithaca, NY USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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