First I’d like to give credit where credit is due: I personally have only hopped a few freights, and everything I’ve learned, I learned from Hobo (the poster from Zoklet) he taught me quite a lot though and I figured the information should be shared.
So, you want to hop a freight train? There are tons of reasons why somebody would want to. It’s cheap travel, it’s exciting, it’s illegal, it’s by far one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced. However it is dangerous and not something you should take lightly. I spent close to a year learning everything I could before trying it.
Finding your local railyard
The easiest way to find your closest railyard is through google maps, the actualy program to be more specific. Go into all the little landmark things or whatever and look for railroad, check that and it’ll show all the little railroads everywhere in a nice black line. To find a railyard simply look for a giant clusterfuck of black lines.
Mapping out your course
Again, google earth. Once you’ve found your railyard look for the different “throats” of the yard, ya know, where that clusterfuck turns into a smaller cluster which then eventually turns into just one track. That’s generally how you can figure out which direction to go. There’s a file for the entire US/Can and some of Mexico railway systems map, once I dig it up I’ll edit it in here. This is a great fucking thing to have. I printed mine up, slipped each page into a laminate paper holder thing and now have the whole map in a binder.
Picking your train
I still haven’t figured out how the fuck you can tell which train you need to jump on to get to where you’re wanting to go, other than just finding your right throat and waiting for one to come creeping by. That’s one thing you need to prepare for if you want to hop a train: waiting. There’s a lot of waiting. Also most yard workers will be more than happy to give you information if you act respectful and are sober. Let them know that you won’t get yourself killed in their yard.
Yard safety
A lot of people may think that a freight train couldn’t really sneak up on you, I sure as fuck did at first, but you’re completely wrong. In a yard a train going 3mph or 30mph can be quiet as FUCK. I was once sitting on one car at night in a yard waiting to get moving when out of fucking nowhere another train speeds by no more than 3ft away from my face. I had no idea it was coming until it was zooming by.
You need to keep an eye out for the yard police or “bulls” they usually like to drive around in little trucks, just be sneaky and careful of what you’re doing. If you do get caught by one remember to keep your respects and they may let you go, if not, it’s usually a simple trespassing charge with a court date (that you won’t show up to, of course 
)
I can’t stress enough how important it is to be safe in a yard. A lot of kids die from being careless and nobody wants that. If you have to weave in and out of trains in the yard, for fuck sake climb OVER them and not UNDER them.
Picking out your car
Alright so you’re at the throat of the yard, waiting for a train to come. You now have two options on how you get on it: while it’s moving (usually at around 3-5mph, still VERY DANGEROUS) or hope it stops (which they normally do before leaving a yard) so if you have it in you to catch out on the fly, by all means do it but fucking be careful.
Now you just need to pick a rideable car. Grainers, open boxcars, double-stacks, gondolas, empty coal cars, are all rideable. I’m sure I’m missing a few, like I said I’ll have to come back and edit this with some pictures. Be careful with grainers and doublestacks though. Sometimes they’ll be “suicide” cars which are basically cars without floors, the biggest advantage of grabbing your train while it’s stopped is so you don’t accidentally hop on a suicide, because then you’re in for one uncomfortable, dangerous, scary fucking ride until your train sides somewhere.
That’s pretty much all I have for now…I’ve probably missed quite a few things but like I said I’ll come back and edit in some pictures/more information when I think of it.
FUCKING ENJOY IT! Riding a freight train is such an incredible experience unlike any other! Don’t be some pussy and get on your train and duck down the whole time out of fear of being spotted. Grab on to something, hang of the side and let the fucking world go by!
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