How Illegal Is Hopping?

[reiligha]

Yeah, you are right, I do get a lot of unwanted attention, but I have a talent for getting people on edge to cool off and relax. So, when did you hire a late night T.V. drummer ?

[ridest]

I am unsure.......have NOT looked in any law books and have but dreamed of jumping, but has been my experience that any infraction w/ objects associated w/ the federal gov. usually constitutes a fed. offense.........see what happens if you get caught being stupid enough to bash a mailbox.

[RexanTexan]

I figure the experience would be worth way more than a few night and a few hundred dollars away ...

[KaBar]

Bashing a mailbox? I must be confused. I can't see it as being worth even a brief conversation with a cop, much less a trip to a Federal courtroom.

I used to live in a small rural town in Washington State, and sometimes in the summer kids would drive around in a pick-up truck at night, hitting people's mailboxes with a baseball bat. This acquaintance of mine got his mailbox all smashed up, so he went down and bought a nice, big shiney new one and he sunk a three-inch pipe four freet in the ground mounted in concrete and filled the pipe with concrete. Then he welded a 1/2" thick plate on top, and welded a portion of a piece of 6-inch pipe on 1/4" thick spacers, so the whole deal would fit inside his nice, new mailbox. He took the bottom out of the mailbox and fitted it over the welded structure, then he boxed in the 3-inch pipe with 1x4's so it looked like a wooden post. In the daylight, you could tell that it wasn't a normal tin mailbox, but at night it looked pretty much like everybody elses' mailboxes.


One Friday night, about a week after he put it up, some idiot drove by and hit it with an aluminum baseball bat. CLANG! He said he heard the commotion, but he didn't get up. It dented the sheet metal, but that's the last time anybody hit his mailbox with a bat. He figured the guy swinging the bat probably got knocked out of the bed of the truck and they had to go back and pick him up, LOL. Dumb asses.

[RangerChris]

Some of this discussion has definately peaked my interest. I have often brought a totally legal broken down .22 or 12 guage with me hitchhiking to hunt small game or the odd time keep bears at bay. Considering learning to hop and was wondering about differences, even tho this is all from the US its making me doubt bringing either.

[flatcar]

Don't bringa gun while hopping. Perfect ticket to jail.

[KaBar]

The crime trainhoppers are usually charged with is "Trespassing on railroad property." This is not a felony. In most states, it is a Class C misdemeanor, about like speeding in a car, but the fine can be up to $500. In Texas, if you are "armed with a deadly weapon" (usually this means a firearm) you can be charged with a more serious crime, "Criminal Trespassing," which is a Class A misdemeanor, known as a State Jail Crime.

If you are caught doing anything whatsoever to harm railroad property (damaging a switch or signal, etc.--NEVER HARM RAILROAD PROPERTY AT ALL, EVER) you can be charged with "Interfering With Railroad Operations." This crime is a felony, punishable by up to five years in the penitentiary, usually. This law was written to punish railroad saboteurs back when the unions were trying to organize the railroad workers. Never vandalize ANYTHING that belongs to the railroad. Some people love to write grafitti on rail cars. While technically grafitti is damage to railroad property, the Law almost never charges them with this crime. Usually they get charged with grafitti vandalism, which while still pretty bad, is a much less serious charge. You don't want to ever go before a jury charged with "Interfering With Railroad Operations." You'll almost certainly go to prison.

But for regular trainhopping, you might get arrested, but more likely you'll get a ticket. If you get caught actually ON a train, you are more likely to get taken in to jail. If you just get caught in the yard, this is more likely to be a lecture and maybe a ticket.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER talk shit to the police. Be respectful, express your sorrow at having "accidently" broken the law, tell them you'll never do it again, whatever. But if you get arrogant and disrespectful, you can expect the cops to throw the book at you. If you piss them off, they will be looking for offenses with which to charge you. Is this wise? I don't think so.

[RangerChris]

Ive tried with very little success to research Canadian rail law. Would never dream of tampering with tracks or equipment, swung pick on some narrow guage rail last fall, as for cops theyve got a job to do. Bein army reserve I expect alil professional courtesy but it goes both ways.

[Bohemian_Cur]

[replying to initial post, not having read all subsequent posts...]

First story: Late 2009 A friend and I hopped a grainer out of Sparks, NV and ended up in Elko. (skip the beautiful scenic details) We were spotted by some rail workers as we hopped off in the morning. We hitched into town and later that day were accosted by the local five-o. We were pretty much reprimanded as if they knew we were the guys. They didn't have evidence, so they couldn't arrest us--which they surely would have done--but they did tell us to get the hell outta town.

Second story: Trying to hop outta Elko the next day, my friend and I spent a good eight-or-more hours stuck inside a grainer. A rail crew doing maintenance on the car adjoining ours unknowingly had us trapped. They didn't see us, but, man, were we afraid to come out. I imagine, merely for safety's sake, they would have ejected us from our settlement and, merely for propriety, they would have pressed charges.

Third story: The train later took off with us inside. (skip the beautiful scenic details) As we came to SLC, we actually chose not to get off. If I remember correctly, we had the idea that the yard would be too difficult to escape without being caught. We feared the illegality of the situation.

Fourth story: (skip the beautiful scenic details) We ended up in Western Wyoming... where some time later we chose to hop out again. The night in question, as our train pulled up, we spotted a(n infamous!) pusher. We weighed the risks (taking an intermodal or a grainer over a pusher--THROUGH THE SNOW??) and ran for the pusher. We knew we wouldn't be spotted, as the front of the train was well ahead and out of sight; but we did fear that the train would pull into the yard and stop, and that a rail-man would enter the pusher and thus find us and incarcerate us. Suffice it to say that youth yields one to an astonishing bravery. We took the pusher and passed through the yard unmolested. From there to about midway to Cheyenne, we were fine. The snow was reflecting wonderfully the moonlight, yadda yadda yadda... It was freezing cold outside. This fact makes the next part somewhat understandable. Amidst a hilly area, where no city lights could be discerned in the distance, our train stopped. Minutes later, a second train was seen approaching on our track. Minutes later, it touched ours. Since the engine's nose was facing backwards, it connected perfectly with the forward-facing nose of the new train. Minutes later, much to the surprise of my friend and myself, a conductor waltzed right in. He was a gray-haired man, long in years of experience. Well, I'll be damned.. all he did was say hi. Nonplussed, we said hi back. He laughed a bit and told us (after telling us that he "understood our situation") not to touch anything or mess with any papers. If we agreed to comply, he was sure not to have seen a thing. Before parting, he showed us the mini-fridge (which we had already found, haha) and gave us each a bottle of water.

Last story: Months later, with a different friend, I caught a train out of Houston. We spent a near-fatal night pushing through wind and rain, lying exposed on the backside of a grainer with no dog-holes to sleep in. We pulled into an area near Lottie, LA in the morning. We decided to ditch the train and started walking towards the front engine, where we thought we saw a roadway. As we got to the few cars before the engine, we got nervous. Well, I walked right up to the thing and spotted the window opened. I yelled up for a bottle of water, not knowing what else to do to get by... AND GOT TWO! Now, conductors aren't wholly moronic. When they see a guy with a pack the size of a large suitcase on his shoulders, he knows he's been on his train. Well, if ever there was a time for that man to do something, it would have been then. But he didn't. Period.

So... how illegal is hopping? It depends on who you are, where you are, and who you run into. Being amiable can mollify a rail-yard bull; being caught in the middle of nowhere can make a conductor rethink kicking you off; being young wins hearts. You see what I mean? It's only as illegal as the guy makes it who catches you. And remember:

It ain't illegal if you don't get caught. (don't quote me on that)

[rubsley]

I was arrested back in '98 riding a train through Shelby, Montana. Charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest (I ran away from the cop; got caught by a pesky blind alley). Anyway, they kept me in till the judge came round and fined me $125 for each charge. I'd probably do it again though (in fact, have) - but I'd be a bit more discrete next time (eg, not wave at cars and stuff).