Riding the Rails: Quotes from a train hopper

Here are some of the more memorable quotes from “Shawn”, a train hopper who rides vacant boxcars in some of the most remote places on earth.

1. “Last night trains were pulling in right beside me…an empty unit idling…calling to me just begging me to ride. Almost to the point where I was going to pack up my shit to go because I couldn’t resist. It’s like you had a girlfriend and some girl is like, ‘hey, you can do whatever you want to me.’ It was a better analogy when I was drunk. Anyway, no riding today but maybe tomorrow.”

2. “There’s a lot of different kinds, but the locomotive obviously is pretty sexy big diesel engine a lot of power in it, obviously to pull huge trains like that so if I had to pick one thing right now I’d say a locomotive.”

3. “Safety is a funny thing people have this concept that if you do things that are legal you are perfectly safe but the truth is people die every single day doing things that are perfectly safe. People die walking to work you read the newspaper everyday things happen to people. And I don’t think train hopping is any different it’s no different than crossing the road there’s rules if you follow the rules it’s completely safe.”

4. “I’ve always found it a romantic notion to sort of like the old man in the sea, it’s you the train and the weather and you’re out there and it’s cold and you’re clinging to life. There’s always been this romantic notion with being sort of on the brink of death but finding that bit of comfort.”

5. “If you’re in a city and there’s police nearby and you have to evade cameras and sneak around and you catch a train then definitely there’s an adrenaline rush.”

6. “When I was in Thailand I didn’t know what the laws were on train hopping I don’t know maybe I’d go to jail for 20 years if I got caught. I mean for drugs there they will put you in jail for life maybe it’s the same for train hopping.”

7. “Ever since I was a kid, some of my earliest memories I’ve always been fascinated with freight trains and I guess it was just a natural progression I wanted to ride them one day.”

8. “I haven’t gotten a train yet but I got a fox. What should I call him?”

9. “Yeah the average public I think you just tell them you hop trains is enough anything beyond that they’re just like you’re crazy or you’re homeless which is a common thing right you hop trains you must be homeless or stupid. Which I’m neither at this point.”

10. “I may not be a hobo but I am certainly starting to look like one.”

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