Train-hopping the wrong way again on Santa Fe’s Raton route
The Santa Fe’s Raton route’s existence is secure; though a secondary freight line, it has enough business and carries Amtrak’s
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Abdul Rahimov has a Ph.D. in Russian history from Stanford. He studied earlier at Harvard and grew up in Illinois in a railroad-dominated town.Rahimov prefers to use a pen name to avoid attracting unnecessary attention from railroads. He lives on the East Coast.
Author: Abdul Rahimov
Dehydration, an angry hobo and testing my limits from Las Vegas to San Bernardino
The Vegas-to-San Bernardino, Calif., run on the Union Pacific had long intrigued me. I had dark fantasies of crossing the
Read moreVisiting ‘Tramp Park’ while train-hopping from Laurel to Seattle
By the time I realized the train was headed the wrong way, there was nothing to do except scream and
Read moreLiving the hobo creed from San Jose to Oakland
Stampede Pass, the intended capstone to my Stanford train-hopping days, is still a few weeks away. I became impatient and
Read moreI expected to ‘fall and die’ after hopping the train from San Jose to Glendale (1991)
On Friday night at 11:43 p.m., I caught my 12th train out of San Jose for Los Angeles. It should be
Read moreFreight-hopping risks from Klamath Falls to Oroville (1992)
Anybody know any hobbies that don’t include large industrial machinery? After 15 trains and 2,800 miles in two summers of
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Running from the bulls from Belen to Barstow (1996)
Barstow, Calif., midway between Vegas and L.A., is the hottest yard of the hottest Western railroad, the Santa Fe. I
Read moreRiding the Feather River Route (1991)
I completed a 12-hour, 354-mile run up the Feather River canyon in the Sierra Nevada and through the Black Rock
Read moreBusted again freight-hopping from Hagerstown to Roanoke
The Norfolk Southern includes the old Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western. The former N & W territory, alas, is
Read morePleasant Saturday freight ride from Hagerstown to Manassas
Having ridden CSX three times, I wanted to knock off its Eastern rival, the Norfolk Southern. It has a militaristic
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