My First Hobo Trip by Jump Off John

My First Hobo Trip - Jump Off John

I had been in contact with King Stretch occasionally through the winter so we had some time to plan my first hobo trip. We decided to meet at Tupelo, MS.
I had to get a ride from my dad to Milwaukee Intermodal Station, recently refurbished Amtrak and Greyhound station and boarded the Hiawatha #338 for the 90 minute trip to Chicago Union Station. During the layover, I had arranged to meet Milwaukee Mike and we had dinner. Back to Union Station and boarded the City of New Orleans, #59, left on time. I did take advantage of the lounge car for a beer, Stretch always tells me not to because he can get a 12 pack for what Amtrak gets for one can! There was no suprises along the line and the train arrived in Memphis on time.
It was still dark and I did not feel like backpacking the mile to the Greyhound station so I took a cab. The cab driver told me we were going through a crack neighborhood and pointed out some gang kids.
The next hop was on Greyhound, had about three hours in the station before the bus to Tupelo pulled out. The bus was late into Tupelo.
Meet up with Stretch. Stretch was with some friends and drove up in a pickup truck, I got in back and they drove us to the BNSF / KCS diamond where we dropped our packs, our ride to Amory was the next morning so we watched trains for a while and walked to a restrauant for bar-ba-que chicken. While walking back to the diamond it started to rain, we moved our packs to the farmers market pavallion and slept there to stay out of the rain.
The next morning started out overcast, we walked up the tracks to where we could catch the BNSF local. On the way we were stopped by the Tupelo police and ID'd They might have been out training because they had shotguns and AR15's. They checked our ID's and let us go.
Stretch put me on a grainer, said to put my pack in the 'V' and sit on it, he took the deck. There are several grade crossings in town, we must not have been seen! It was a short ride to Amory, took some pictures along the way. Stretch lost his hat near the river and later went back to look but didn't find it. We pulled into Amory about 1:30PM. and meet the switch crew.
We left the yard, had to cross all the tracks, and went to the Amory Cafe. I had ordered two cheeseburgers, I had forgotten that they make them big! You may have heard about their pancakes.

Amory Gathering

Because I took Amtrak and Greyhound, I could not carry a pocket knife, the first thing I did when I got to Amory was to go to the pawn shop on Main St and checked out the knives, I bought a leatherman tool for $40.
Thanks to Ms Charlotte for an excellent dinner.
One of the first activities was a road trip to Loco Larry's gravesite for a memorial service.
Stretch and I did the hobo walking stick business, Stretch borrowed a saw and file and we went out and cut some sticks, pealed the bark and filed the rough spots. Sales were good and we had to cut more sticks. We sold them all. Red Bird had a link and pin coupler for sale, I don't know if he sold it.

The trip home

The last day of the Amory Railroad Festival, Sunday 19th late afternoon or early evening, Stretch and I walked to the north end of the yard and waited for the local to Tupelo to be built. The third shift yard crew put the train together, there was no other work in the yard so they were done early. We boarded a box car and rolled out our bed rolls (it was only 3am or 4am). The local pulled out of the yard around 7:30am. The train arrived in Tupelo, we stayed onboard the box while the crew switched our car to the KCS yard. (saved a lot of walking!).
We got to Stretch's jungle around 9:30 am, dropped our packs and walked to a truck stop about a half mile away, Stretch got a 12-pack and I got a Mtn Dew. We walked back to the jungle and rolled out for a nap. On this KCS line there is only one train a day, a night run to Corinth, MS. The last time Stretch took this train it was about a mile long, so we walked about a half mile to where the tail end of the train would be, we waited in the dark. When the train pulled up, it was only about 40 cars, we had to run to catch out. I got a grainer on the forward deck of the car, Stretch got a grainer two cars ahead. This is a 10 MPH line so the forward end of the car is not much of a problem with wind.
There was no work performed along the route, we got to the Corinth MS yard about 5 hours later. We bailed off at the south end of the yard and walked to the highway 72E bridge, Stretch got more beer and we rolled out for a nap, it was morning so I had trouble sleeping.
Early evening we started walking north and took a break at the KCS / NS diamond (crossroads museum). We refilled our water and walked to a nearby gas station for beer and mtn dew then returned to the diamond. While we were at the diamond only one NS train came through.
After a rest we continued walking north and stopped at the 'crossover'. We discovered that the crossover had been removed, meaning that the West Tenneesee no longer comes that far south. We had to walk another mile to Ruslor Junction, it was after midnight and we thought we missed the train. We rolled out and went to sleep. I was out but Stretch woke up when the train arrived. Stretch said he was yelling at me and throwed some gravel at me but I did not answer, we stayed at Ruslor for the night. In the morning, there was a nice clean creek just a few carlengths south of the junction, I took a hobo bath. We caught the train the next night.
This part of the West Tenneesee has had a lot of work and track speed is about 50 MPH, we stopped once to set out a tank car. We reached Jackson TN, in about an hour and half. We camped out at the north end of the yard. We had to stay another day because the train to Fulton is only three days a week. We walked into Jackson and visited the N,C & StL depot museum and then a stop at Popeye's chicken.
The ride from Jackson to Fulton was on grainers, there was one stop for lunch and another to set out cars at a steel yard. We got to Fulton in the early afternoon and rested under a bridge at the north end of the yard next to the wye.
A yard worker saw us and called the Fulton police, about 30 minutes later we were visited by an officer, we talked for a few minutes, Stretch gave him one of his cards. The officer never ran our ID's. After dark we walked around a line of cars, to stay out of sight of the yard office, to the south end of the yard, there is a small jungle under a bridge there. After catching my breath we crossed to the other side of the yard, at this point it is only 5 or 6 tracks wide, Stretch said it is easier to catch out on that side. There is also an access road and a short walk for beer and food.
That night there were only two trains with almost no rides, a lot of tank cars and deckless grainers. In the morning we crossed back and rolled out under the bridge. During the day we made a trip or two for beer and food. I went to a motel and got a room to shower and to charge my phone.
Late afternoon we started looking for rides, when a train pulled in we saw a box with an open door stop just across from us, we went over and took a look. The door was stuck about 2 feet open, the car was dirty and hot. We walked back to the jungle and then we saw another hobo looking for a ride, we talked for a few minutes, he was headed to Chicago, I did not write down his name so I don't recall it. He boarded the box car we were just looking at.
Stretch and I caught a ride that night on a 53 foot stack car. Stretch though it would stop in Champaign, IL for crew change but it never stopped. We stopped once for the southbound City of New Orleans. The train got to Chicago on Sunday morning at 7:20am, we stopped outside of the yard and Stretch and I jumped off. We stopped next to the Metra Flossmore station, we walked up on the platform.
About an hour later we got on the Metra for a ride to Pullman (111th St.) we were sitting on the bandstand at the Pullman visitor center when it started to rain, we moved our gear to the porch of the Florence Hotel. Later that morning we called Milwaukee Mike for a ride, we went to look at some catch out spots and then went to the bridge across the east end of Bensonville yard. Rain was in the forecast, so we slept under the bridge.
The junk trains for Milwaukee leave the yard at the west end. I was already having trouble walking because of blisters on my feet so instead of riding any more freight I decided to go home. We were near a Metra station, it was across the yard, so we crossed the yard. Minutes later the bulls pulled up, took our IDs, took our pictures and told us we would be arrested the next time. We only crossed the yard! The bull said we should walk to the next Metra station in Franklin Park.
We walked the mile and half to the Franklin Park railroad park, there is a caboose and tower B-12 there. We watched a few trains pass and then I walked a half block to the Metra station and caught the next train to Union Station. I got to Union Station and went straight to the Amtrak quick ticket terminal, there was a train to Milwaukee leaving in 10 minutes, I bought the ticket and boarded the train. On the ride north I noticed high water in every field, it had been raining hard for the last three days.
Home again after a ride from my dad.
Jump Off John

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