hobos on trains

Are hoboes on trains still a problem. Do very many get on empty boxcars and what happens when caught. How many get on and off trains without engineers noticing. I have seen some on trains before. If I was that crazy I would get were no one could see me.

Yes we have hoboes still. Last week we had three on three seperate trains go by.

They are out and about. They generally do not give the RR guys a hard time as they know we provide the means to get from point A to point B. I've had one scare the heck out of me at 2:00 a.m. while walking my train asking what time it was. I'll throw down some water to guys sitting around the right of way just to give them something wet. I've only heard of one engineer taking a beating from a transient in Salt Lake City. I always keep the door behind me locked now when running and lock the front door as well if the conductor is out walking the train (if equipped, the newer units come with this cheap silver sliding latch bolt device which breaks in about 4 months time).

Once had the local police pull a hobo off our train account he was in the cab of a trailing unit. Normally one hobo rule is to stay away from the power (and caboose in years past). Otherwise, I never bothered them and they never bothered anyone in the T&E crew.

I take at least one call a month where a trespasser falls from a moving train and dies as a result of the last half mile of railcars running him over until there is not much left. Do me a favor and report any trespassers on your train when you see them. This is what I hear from train crews. If the trespasser wants to leave my city then I let them get on the train and give them a ride. If the trespasser is entering my city then I call the police to have him removed. Let's remove all trespassers from the train when we see them and fatalities on railroad property will decline.

Only thing, it is hard to call the RMCC when your train is stopped at say Balch, CA, where it is at least 100 miles by road to this location from Las Vegas or Yermo and the outside temp based upon the TDD says it is 116 degrees and the nearest town is 50-60 miles away via the UP highway and county roads. I think it may be easier in more populous areas to call the RMCC when a transient is found than out in the middle of nowhere. I have no problem bringing them into town with the RR police or sheriff awaiting them at the yard, then to make them get off in the middle of nowhere.

slchub, 100 years ago you would have been expected to go car to car back along the train and physically toss them off ( or you might have let them pay you a dollar a division to let them ride)

Whenever a tresspasser was reported on a train the local county or state law enforcement was notified and the culprit would be removed. There were, however, a couple instances where a hobo would ride inside a coal hopper car, fall asleep and be buried with 100t of coal at the mine dumper. The poor soul wouldn't be found until the body showed up on the grates at the power plant.

Aji-tater wrote:slchub, 100 years ago you would have been expected to go car to car back along the train and physically toss them off ( or you might have let them pay you a dollar a division to let them ride)

Reminds me of that old movie "Emperor of the North" with Ernest Borgnine!

I'm not even sure I would approach half these guys and ask them for the time of day. used to be criminals had respect for people other than those they were victimizing. Now, it does not matter who you are. And with half of the transients out here running/fleeing the law with a felony past, who would want to approach them anyhow. If we see one riding we'll let the conductor know once the roll by is complete saying you had human cargo on about the 50th car back. Generally it is "okay, thanks guys." Here in the Vegas area we don't have so much a Hobo problem as we do guys who break into the containers on the intermodal trains. Every once and awhile you'll go by and see the doors open on about 10-30 containers, stuff thrown about. The RR police here try to do a roll by in and out of town to ensure the containers are closed up.

Most hobo live off of packets of mustard and crackers, and dumpster chow, there totally weak. Any one ever saw a real FTRA hobo? How do you tell if their "in"?

I agree with you slchub. If you are in the middle of BFE then the only logical choice is to have police waiting for you. They know when the train stops to jump off and hide until it starts moving again. And boy do I agree with you on the theft from Los Angeles all the way to El Paso. And I don't envy you if you have to stop the train and inspect in those areas. I would not budge from the locomotive until I had police escort, especially the Los Angeles, Compton, Fresno area. May the force be with you during those stops.

The force and a a few stormtroopers Seriously though be safe, the railroad killer that was just executed kinda shows you why its not like "the good old days" and even then "Boes would lay for certain conductors and or brakemen that had given thema bad time.