quote:

Legality of hobos riding on trains?

Perfectly legal:

When I was a kid, my buddies and I would hop the train when it slowed down going up a grade and then ride into Dayton.
When we were seen getting off the train, RR employees put up a vigorous pursuit, often involving clubs and large thrown rocks. Pretty clear we were not authorized to ride the train!

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Seems more like a hobo-poser if he has a phone and can post YouTube videos.

Basically all the homeless around here have cell phones. They might be several years old, but even without a service plan they can still hop on free wifi at any number of locations and use the phone's internet and messaging functions and apps.

And many of them do have cell service, via the Lifeline Assistance program (the so-called "Obamaphone" program that you might remember from a decade back) that gives low/no income folks limited talk minutes and text messages each month for free.

So this hobo could easily be using an older smartphone that he acquired along the way to shoot videos which he then edits on the phone and uploads to Youtube via the app when he gets access to free wifi. Making Youtube videos doesn't require a camera crew and an editing studio.

I have the feeling that if Shoestring (or anyone else) actually started an engine and moved a train or cars, the railroad would get real serious about putting a stop to it.

They don't love him merely riding, but it isn't interfering with operations.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
A vid popped up tonight and he found a unlocked pusher engine and boarded it. A pusher is usually about mid train and helps the train with hill climbs and pulling extra long trains. What rubs me wrong about this is, the engine is running and this dude is in full control of all its electronic functions

Not that this changes matters, but when they operate the locos in Distributed Power (DP) Mode, the engines are controlled from the lead locomotive. If an individual would get into the control screen to change that status, the controlling engine/crew would be aware.. He would not be able to take control of the locomotive.

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
It's a pretty good job. They are better equipped than most Police Departments. The only downside IMHO is that they have huge areas that the individuals are responsible or patrol and are often all by themselves. They depend on local Police for backup because of that. Their "beats" can often cross State lines. I once met one of them while working days. It was around 1700 on a Friday afternoon. He was assigned to some kind of job in the Rockford Illinois area and had to drive all the way out there to handle it. From Chicago. On a Friday in rush hour traffic.

Yep. Here, and I’m pretty sure everywhere else, they are deputized as State Deputy Sheriff’s. One of my academy instructors quit teaching and got a job as a “Cinder Dick”. Or maybe it was “Tender Dick” My grandpa was an old train engineer and that was an old nickname for the Railroad Cops. He is deputized as a State Deputy Sheriff in NE, IA, and KS since his “beat” is mostly western IA, eastern NE, and a chunk of northeast KS. Top of the line benefits, equipment, and pay. The ones I have met are good guys working a lonely job. Railroad doesn’t F around w/ trespassers.

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Originally posted by 357fuzz:
Yep. Here, and I’m pretty sure everywhere else, they are deputized as State Deputy Sheriff’s.

Not around here. (We also don't have State Deputy Sheriffs either. In Arkansas, sheriffs and their deputies operate by county.)

Railroad company police in Arkansas have their own statutes stating their law enforcement powers, which are limited to making arrests both on and off that railroad company's property for violations of the law that occurred on that railroad company's property, which includes that company's tracks and a certain distance out from the tracks wherever they run, along with any buildings/yards owned by that company.

So there's no need to individually deputize them in every county in order to allow them to operate (in their limited capacity) in any jurisdiction through which that railroad company's tracks run.

Our local railroad police primarily exercise their LEO powers by investigating vehicle/pedestrian vs. train collisions, policing trespassers in rail yards, and dealing with homeless folks building encampments near rail lines and using the rail lines as trails. But they also have non-LEO safety-related responsibilities for stuff like helping to make sure all the railroad signals are working properly, and ensuring hazmat compliance on rail shipments.

We have our county sheriffs and their deputies as well. But, the state of NE has a thing called State Deputy Sheriffs. So, anyone who wants to work in NE as a railroad cop has to become a state deputy sheriff. Fire Marshals are technically state deputy sheriffs as are the Carp Cops and technically the state troopers.

I'd guess hobos have fatal "accidents" at a much higher rate than non-hobos.

Not a lifestyle I'd aspire to.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Seems more like a hobo-poser if he has a phone and can post YouTube videos.

Lame.

Like the "off grid" folks.

I'm sorry, if you're making your living posting videos on the internet, you're not off grid.

quote:

Originally posted by 357fuzz:
We have our county sheriffs and their deputies as well. But, the state of NE has a thing called State Deputy Sheriffs.

Interesting.

Therefore, if there are State Deputy Sheriffs, that would seem to imply the existence of a State Sheriff in order to deputize them?

I grew up in the midwest and my dad's side of the family worked for Mo-Pac (Missouri Pacific), my grandfather and father were engineers, my uncles worked various jobs for Mo-Pac. As kids we were frequently around railroad owned areas, from hunting to riding our motorcycles.

Mo-Pac had their own police, my brother and friend found out the hard way. Someone had broken into a rail car and had stolen stuff, they threw miscellaneous stuff outside of the rail car and my brother and friend came up on it and grabbed some ear plugs (box boxes of those foam plugs). Nothing really good but they came back the next day and were rummaging around and the RR police came out of nowhere. Since they were pretty young they were pretty much just scolded.

My father and grandfather always carried handguns with them, there were times back in the day when there were cabooses that someone jumped in the caboose and assaulted the guy working it (if I recall, they took one of the road fuzes they used to use and burnt the guy with it).

From what I can remember as a kid, the RR police would not have tolerated anyone on the trains. That was in the 70's and 80's so it may have changed. We frequently had to cross RR crossings, they were everywhere around where I grew up, I never recall seeing anyone riding the trains during my entire childhood.

quote:

Originally posted by American Pit Bull:

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
A vid popped up tonight and he found a unlocked pusher engine and boarded it. A pusher is usually about mid train and helps the train with hill climbs and pulling extra long trains. What rubs me wrong about this is, the engine is running and this dude is in full control of all its electronic functions

Not that this changes matters, but when they operate the locos in Distributed Power (DP) Mode, the engines are controlled from the lead locomotive. If an individual would get into the control screen to change that status, the controlling engine/crew would be aware.. He would not be able to take control of the locomotive.

Thank you. Good to know.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Seems more like a hobo-poser if he has a phone and can post YouTube videos.

Lame.

Like the "off grid" folks.

I'm sorry, if you're making your living posting videos on the internet, you're not off grid.

Another of his videos popped up last evening. I dont watch him. Aside from making his videos, he sells T shirts in 27 different colors. I bet he has a sizable hobo bank account.

In one of his videos he mentioned that when there's a good amount of snow on the tracks, it muffles the sound in box cars to the point that it's almost like being in a passenger car.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this guy as a hobo just because he's got a phone and posts to youtube. He's got Social Security or a pension or some sort of income, and this is how he chooses to live. These days, the only surprise when you encounter someone is if they don't have a phone. There's free wifi everywhere.

I think he is a veteran Para. Seems like he mentioned the military in a video. The one that came up last evening was from 7 months back. He was cleaned up good, wearing a new T shirt and had no bones sticking out. I thought hobos carried a pouch on a stick. This guy has a 5 gallon pale of goods.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
I'd guess hobos have fatal "accidents" at a much higher rate than non-hobos.

Not a lifestyle I'd aspire to.

That happened to Jim Stobie, otherwise known as Stobe the Hobo on YouTube. He actually made some really good videos of his travels. Unfortunately, he was hit by an Amtrak train a few years back while attempting to cross a bridge.

He never vandalized or broke anything. Just used it as free transportation. I'd recommend giving his channel a watch, it's quite interesting.

Several years ago I checked in with a buddy I used to work with. I asked him about his kids. He told me that Justin is a hobo with a cell phone and a credit card, riding the rails....I didn't;t ask how the credit card was paid for. this was in the late 90".....geesh.

I’ve been a cop for 21 years now. Spent six of those as a railroad cop, working out of Texas and Arizona. It used to be considered a choice job, but post 9/11 they took a dive off the deep end in desperately trying to justify their existence. As for actual police work done, there’s not much, and I became bored very quickly. The woke corporate policies are absolutely nauseating. I left for a big city agency.

The train riders didn’t care if you pulled them off the train. They took it as an opportunity to hit up the local homeless shelter for a free meal, and a spot to charge their phone. I got my tic mark for citing them for trespassing, knowing full well they would hop the next train through town and they’d never make their court date.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
I'd guess hobos have fatal "accidents" at a much higher rate than non-hobos.

Not a lifestyle I'd aspire to.

Yep that is true…I retired with 37 years service from Norfolk Southern Railway’s mechanical dept. (started out with Southern in Atlanta’s Inman yard and Pegram Locomotive Shop and retired from Debutts Yard in Chattanooga…within just my first year working, my crew found three dead bodies, one in Inman yard proper, one at the Amtrack terminal in downtown Atlanta and another in the local yard in Gainesville Ga…judging from the back packs with supplies they were all killed hitching a ride after falling under moving equipment bleeding to death from pretty much being cut in half…pretty gruesome!…

My Forman who always accompanied his crew, said that such finds were not rare and he had on several occasions been able to apply a tourniquet to attempt to stop someone from bleeding out from the loss of an arm or leg…but all of these situations were before cell phones and had to be radioed into the yard dispatch and hope emergency response could find us in time (sometimes deep into the rail yard across dozens of tracks blocked by rail cars)…it was also not unusual to find hobos crushed to death by shifting loads at the yard at the bottom of the “hump”…

Earlier someone mentioned that Railroaders didn’t pay Social Security…that’s somewhat true…we pay pretty much the same rates (and a little extra) as SS but the retirement benefits of Railroad Retirement are more generous…

One thing railroader’s are not covered by is Workmen’s Comp…we fall under “The Federal Employees Liability Act”…which will usually require an specialized FELA Attorney and Lawsuit to arrive at an equitable result…(it took me over five years to reach an agreement from having a 700lb. boxcar door bounce off my head resulting in my right hip finally needing to be replaced after four surgeries…

Railroads march to the beat of a somewhat different drum…especially if you want a “normal life”…with all of this being said, I miss it