Thank you.
Hobos are a subject and a culture dear to my heart.
Don aka Michigan Slim
As a schoolboy in Colorado in the early sixties there were two ways to walk to school; Follow the highway to Main Street, or, if my mother wasn't looking out the kitchen window, hop the ditch and walk the tracks to town.
The latter would take you by the hobo camp (don't EVER call 'em bums..). From our lofty perch atop 15' of steep ballast we could watch the hobos tend their fires and hug their blankets and sometimes their bottles. We'd holler and wave (I don't think any of them could've made it up the slope with any speed) but usually kept our distance. After a season I could recognize the regulars.
I remember they had names and stories, but that was 50 years ago. I wish I had paid more attention back then. I do remember how quick a raggedy hobo could hop a freight when it slowed at the grade into town. I also remember how proud they looked, perched in a boxcar doorway catching the wind or "flat-rocking-it"...sunning themselves on a warm day in an empty flat car.
Here's to you, 'bos of the world. Loved the pics.
Don, thanks for that link. I saved it to my favorites. A LOT of nice pics and I've barely begun to look at them all. The whole subject matter of the thread reminds me of dreams I had in my youth. Probably wouldn't have been much worse off if I'd took up Pro Hoboing.
And, Michigan S., PLEASE say you actually did some freight rail riding in your day? Would love to read some real stories from someone I, well kinda anyway, know.
I remember hearing about the Hobo convention in the 70's but forgot where it was held.
I only knew one true hobo when I lived in New Olreans in teh 70's. His name was Two Hat because he always had two hats on.
He was the real deal. He would pass through New Orleans for awhile in the Winter months. He would build a shelter fro sleep of cardboard and scrap on the levee in the Algiers section of New Orleans which is across the river from the French Quarter.
I was managing a second hand bookstore on Decatur St in the Quarter and he would pass by and take a PB from the free books that I would place on the sidewalks. I would have some short conversations with him. He told me about the hobo convention. He would tell me about how he was becoming extinct an feared for his safety. You would see him riding on the free ferry or late at night in the busines district where he did his dumpster diving.
In my hitchiking days, I only hopped a train once in Texas. It was legal to hop freights in Tx at the time. The yardmen just made it clear that you did not approach their locker areas. They would even tell you what train was going where and when and what to expect like the train we hopped. It stopped outside of FW about 30 miles out and waited for more cars in the middle of the night. A friend and I were hitching to Estes Park, CO from New Orleans. When we got outside the Fort Worth area into the TX wasteland, no one would pick us up. So we hopped a freight back to FW and then hopped a freight to Denver. Nice new green Burlington box car. We made cardbord pallets to sleep on. It was a beautiful ride through the Tx Panhadle with a nice moon hanging in the sky. I slept like a baby with the rock and sway of the boxcar. Matter of fact, it was most likely the best sleep that I ever had in my life. I have a model green Burlington boxcar on my boookcase shelf.
They remind me of folks that may have listened closely to Timothy Leary back in the day, they dropped out.
[flash width=480 height=360] http://www.youtube.com/v/1SRi06W859o?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0 [/flash]
Further
No they rode buses. 😉
I think that there have been numerous studies that have shown disproportionately, homeless and vagabond men are vets.
"Once there was an old hobo called Two-Hat..."
My time on the rails was limited to short hops on the Soo Line in the U.P. My time on the highways was extensive and all across the U.S. and Canada. I do have some stories (memories) which I share from time to time. Mostly good times, then.
Real hobos disdain hitch hiking because you have to ask for a ride. I get that.
Don
Hobo's Lullaby
Last Train
Thanks for the links, Mr. Penry. I have wondered about many things, related to trains, and his descriptions of the Rail Cars that Hobos ride, was quite good.
And, hobo Shoe String, is an intresting fellow. Even his candor about alcohol was refreshing.
Thanks,
Nate
Bound for Glory - Woody Guthrie
Don - have you ever read Woody Guthrie's autobiography "Bound for Glory"? He describes some pretty wild depression-era boxcar scenes with the cars jam packed with hard drinkin', hard fightin' transient men. Guthrie loved the life on the road.
[flash width=420 height=315] http://www.youtube.com/v/kfq5b1bppJQ?version=3&hl=en_US [/flash]
> "Once there was an old hobo called Two-Hat..."
Thanks for finding that. I read bestofneworleans online but must have missed that David B. review.
It is good to know that TwoHat found some shelter provided by an Uptown women.
I understand his FQ concept. In the 70s there was a srong push from city leaders to Disneyfy the FQ for tourists. One of which was to produce a grandiose Son Et Lumiere spectacular each night in Jackson Square.
A video test
[flash width=420 height=315] http://www.youtube.com/v/NN_xvE79iXE?version=3&hl=en_US [/flash]
It worked, all I had to do was read the instructions!!!
Bound for Glory - Woody Guthrie
I have read it. He was a very special man, but it's always surprising to be reminded that our heros are human beings. Arlo's daddy wasn't perfect, but he was Woody. That's for sure.
Don
