Hopping Freight Trains in America

Littlejohn's book is an ideal gateway into the world of freight hopping. It is well written. The author's personality & outlook as they come through in the book are encouraging. It is full of advice, both with respect to general things such as the broad makeup & functioning of the railroad system & particular things such as what time of the week you are more likely to find a train & what air brakes sound like (you'll find out why knowing this sound is important). It incorporates personal anecdote without relying too heavily upon it. I have a few reservations, however. While I wouldn't call it outdated, it does show a few signs of age. It mentions the possibility of riding on automobile carriers, for instance. It would be inadvisable to do this even were it feasible, but with the new designs of car carrier, it is next to impossible to ride one. There are other instances of Littlejohn's writing bearing the stamp of age, but fortunately, not very many of them concern vital things. In other words, most of what is dated is either relatively unimportant to the actual practice of freight hopping or still viable with the application of some common sense (which you'll need a lot of to ride the rails successfully anyway). In addition, the book skimps on some aspects of modern freight hopping, such as radio frequency scanning, but this is no big deal. In my opinion, Littlejohn is wise to concentrate on the more fundamental aspects of hopping freights. This book will start preparing you for hopping freights. If you take the advice in this book, start small, supplement it with information from the Web (for instance, the freight hoppers e-mail list at [email protected] ), & practice, you should be well on your way. Moreover, once you have caught out a few times, you can return to the book often to hone your skills. A valuable book, highly recommended.

the book was very informative. gives a good idea of what train hopping and the respect it deserves is all about. would recomend this book to any person who is interested in the safety of cargo travel. I even used the knowledge I gained from this book to travel by freight in mexico.

When I first hopped freight trains, in 1970, there were no books to explain it or to allow one to learn the safe way to do it. Littlejohn is an entertaining writer, but most of all, his information is accurate, and his advice is sound. He approaches the subject from the viewpoint of a "sportsman," and he does gloss over some of the negatives, but the book is informative and intelligently written. I know of only one other book about trainhopping, and of the two, I find Littlejohn's book to be the more timely and superior of the two. In a way, the people that most need to read Littlejohn's book are those least likely to do so, but I would have benefitted enormously if it had been available when I was a neophyte tramp. Youngsters reading this book may get the idea that trainhopping is just one big lark. This isn't true, but at least if they follow Littlejohn's rules they will avoid getting hurt long enough to figure it out. I have ridden trains for years, and I learned a lot I didn't know. If you intend to trainhop, READ IT WITH AN EYE TO SURVIVAL. Just the list of rules in the front is worth the price of the book, if you follow them.

This book tells everything you need to know about hopping freights. And I liked the author's background history and personal tales.You need to know what you're doing if you want to hop freights. This book tells all.

This is a fabulous book for anybody wanting practical knowledge and a how-to guide to freight- train hopping. I bought the book for that reason, to hone my own skills. But I also got a fascinating history of the railway in North America and a lot of entertaining ancedotes. This is a great book for anyone interested in hopping trains and for students of American history.