Originally published at: Listen to a firsthand account of hobo life in new "City of the Rails" podcast | Boing Boing
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My grandfather and his brother lived this way for a while as young men during the tail end of the Great Depression. Always a fascinating story to hear.
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A friend of mine briefly tried this once. There is a fascination I have with it, maybe if I knew about it in my youth I might’ve tried it, but probably not.
Photographer Mike Brodie made some amazing shots during his time hopping the rails in the mid-aughts.
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The Mike Brodie pics are excellent.
I would also recommend “Boy and Girl Tramps of America” by Thomas Minehan, that is serendipitously coming back into print next week! Minehan (a sociologist) gets laid off during the Great Depression and spends the time riding the rails, pretending he is on a sabbatical to research the youth subculture he finds paralleling the hobos. Really awesome book - and the only source I’ve found for one of my favorite expressions “Don’t use the low needle”.
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I think I first saw this linked here, a while back:
A British bloke who has a taste for catching rides on freight trains. (This little excursion got him banned from Canada)
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