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Freighthopping or trainhopping is the act of boarding and riding a freightcar without permission. This activity itself is often considered to be illegal, although this varies by geography. It may be associated with other illegal activities such as
Riding outside a freight car, whether atop or underneath, is dangerous.
It is estimated that yearly between 400,000 and 500,000 migrants—the majority of whom are from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—hop freight trains in the effort to reach the United States. The freight trains are known as
The Great Depression - The Story of 250,000 Teenagers Who Left Home and Ride the Rails
"Riding the Rails"
''
Hobo Letters
Letters from boxcar kids who rode the rails during the Great Depression {{Authority control Articles containing video clips Passenger rail transport Organized crime activity Train surfing
theft
Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shor ...
or vagrancy
Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...
.
Train surfing
Train surfing (also known as train hopping, train hitching, or subway surfing) is the act of riding on the outside of a moving train, tram, or other form of rail transport vehicle. In a number of countries, the term 'train hopping' is used synon ...
is a similar activity that involves the act of riding on the outside of a moving train, tram or another rail transport, without paying a due fare.
History
For a variety of reasons the practice is less common in the 21st century, although a community of freight-train riders still exists. Typically, hoppers will go to arail yard
A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...
where trains stop to pick up and unload freight and switch out crew. They will either board a freight car in some fashion unseen or "catch one on the fly" once it has begun to move.
Dangers
Riding outside a freight car, whether atop or underneath, is dangerous.
Today
Hopping trains happens all over the world and styles, and practices and legal penalties vary by region. Some places are more critical and consider freight hopping a crime, and other places are morelenient
Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts.
In the social and leg ...
.
;Europe
Freight-hopping exists in various countries and across borders, including the Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...
and Eurotunnel Shuttle
LeShuttle (formerly Eurotunnel Le Shuttle and also known as The Shuttle) is a railway shuttle service between Calais in France and Folkestone in the United Kingdom. It conveys road vehicles (including cars, bicycles and motorcycles) and passeng ...
as a route for migrants to cross the English Channel from France into England.
;United States
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...
in the United States encourages people who witness transients on freight trains to report them to its dispatch center. According to a sheriff's deputy from Lincoln County, Nebraska
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,676. Its county seat is North Platte. Despite the county's name, the state capital city of Lincoln is not in or near Lincoln Coun ...
train hoppers no longer write symbols on trees and buildings, but there is still a network of train hoppers that occurs mostly online.
;Australia
Australia has an incredibly small community of freight-hoppers, consisting mainly of teens and young adults, who hop for various reasons, including family issues, and more. They are found mostly in the major cities, and lines, such as the Brisbane-Sydney line, and other major freight routes. The community is very tight, and difficult to get into. Most media regarding modern hopping in Australia is private, or hard to find.
;Mexico
It is estimated that yearly between 400,000 and 500,000 migrants—the majority of whom are from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—hop freight trains in the effort to reach the United States. The freight trains are known as La Bestia
("The Beast"), also known as ("The Train of Death") and ("The Train of the Unknowns"), is a freight train that starts its route in Chiapas state in southern Mexico, near the border of Guatemala. From there it travels north to the Lechería ra ...
.
;Mauritania
In the Mauritania Railway
The Mauritania Railway is the national railway of Mauritania. Construction of the line began in 1960, with its opening in 1963. It consists of a single, railway line linking the iron mining center of Zouérat with the port of Nouadhibou, via ...
, freighthoppers can ride with their cargo freely due to the lack of road between Zouérat
Zouérat () is the largest town in northern Mauritania and the capital of the Tiris Zemmour region, with an approximate population of 62,380 (2023). It lies at the eastern end of the Mauritania Railway to Nouadhibou.
History
The town devel ...
and Nouadhibou
Nouadhibou (; , ), formerly named Port-Étienne, is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial center. The city has about 173,000 inhabitants. It is situated on a 65-kilometre peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou ...
.
See also
*Mike Brodie
Michael Christopher Brodie (born 1985), also known as the "Polaroid Kid" or "Polaroid Kidd", is an American photography, photographer. From 2004 to 2008, Brodie freighthopping, freighthopped across the US and photographed people he encountered ...
, freighthopping photographer
* W. H. Davies
William Henry Davies (3 July 1871 – 26 September 1940) was a Welsh poet and writer, who spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo in the United Kingdom and the United States, yet became one of the most popular poets of his time. His themes in ...
, the "tramp-poet"
* Ben Reitman
__NOTOC__
Ben Lewis Reitman M.D. (1879–1943) was an American anarchist and physician to the poor ("the hobo doctor"). He is best remembered today as one of radical Emma Goldman's lovers. Martin Scorsese's 1972 feature film ''Boxcar Bertha'' is ...
, the "hobo doctor"
References
Further reading
* Uys, Errol Lincoln (2003). ''Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression'': Routledge.The Great Depression - The Story of 250,000 Teenagers Who Left Home and Ride the Rails
"Riding the Rails"
''
American Experience
''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
''. PBS series.
* Conover, Ted (2001). ''Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes''. Vintage.External links
Hobo Letters
Letters from boxcar kids who rode the rails during the Great Depression {{Authority control Articles containing video clips Passenger rail transport Organized crime activity Train surfing