Just wanted to say Hi! It's been awhile since I've been on here, some of you may recognize my name from Dave's recent hopping trip in canada. I have something planned for June, if your interested you can follow me on instageam, I will also be posting on here more often I promise! If anyone has any questions that I might be able to help you with, feel free to ask! 🖖
I was absent from everything for at least seven months, then I finally rode a local manifest from Brunswick (GA) to Waycross last week, and it was well-deserved!
Do you plan to stay in Canada for the whole trip or are you ready to take on American rails?!
Do you plan to stay in Canada for the whole trip or are you ready to take on American rails?!
Nothing south of the border thanks ha. I like our Canadian laws too much 😏
To be honest I would LOVE to see a trip from Canada to Detroit without being caught, that would be something big
Funny story in regards to that.
I live a bit southeast of Detroit and there's a rail that's no more than a quarter mile from my house. Last year on July 4th I decided to freight hop for the first time. It was a snap decision; no experience, no knowledge regarding the matter, nothing. I convinced a friend of mine to come along, somehow. The trains go pretty slow by the rail near my house, so I wasn't really concerned that we'd have any serious issues getting on. We didn't. So, we're riding along at a decent rate to God knows where. Like I said, no preparation. We had another friend that was going to pick us up when we decided to bail after an hour or so of riding, so we weren't really concerned with getting stranded. After 50 minutes or so or riding inside a container, we check on my phone GPS where we were. We were in Detroit. "Hey, cool, we're in Detroit!" Then, after a few seconds of watching our little dot crawl across the map, I realized we were about a mile from the Canadian border and closing fast. That's when we got scared. We got off as fast as we could, but being inexperienced I sprained my ankle pretty bad and my friend gashed up his leg. We were riding near the back, so we were left by ourselves soon enough. The train disappeared into the border tunnel. There are fireworks on the Rouge river on the 4th of July, so we decided to stick around and watch them, the rail being somewhat elevated above the buildings and all. A few minutes later we noticed a truck coming down the rail. Figured it was maintenance or something. Nope! It was Homeland Security. Hurray! The truck (which ended up being two trucks in tandem) pulled up on either side of us. The kicked my friend in the back cause he stuck his hands in his pockets after we were expressly told, "Hands on your head!" Initially they thought we were trying to sneak through the tunnel, I guess. Supposedly that's a big problem they have, based on what they told us. It ended up being alright, though. We just told them that we were there to watch the fireworks and they let us off with a warning because the no trespassing signs were so faded that they were illegible. Our buddy came and picked us up after we walked off. All was well.
I live a bit southeast of Detroit and there's a rail that's no more than a quarter mile from my house. Last year on July 4th I decided to freight hop for the first time. It was a snap decision; no experience, no knowledge regarding the matter, nothing. I convinced a friend of mine to come along, somehow. The trains go pretty slow by the rail near my house, so I wasn't really concerned that we'd have any serious issues getting on. We didn't. So, we're riding along at a decent rate to God knows where. Like I said, no preparation. We had another friend that was going to pick us up when we decided to bail after an hour or so of riding, so we weren't really concerned with getting stranded. After 50 minutes or so or riding inside a container, we check on my phone GPS where we were. We were in Detroit. "Hey, cool, we're in Detroit!" Then, after a few seconds of watching our little dot crawl across the map, I realized we were about a mile from the Canadian border and closing fast. That's when we got scared. We got off as fast as we could, but being inexperienced I sprained my ankle pretty bad and my friend gashed up his leg. We were riding near the back, so we were left by ourselves soon enough. The train disappeared into the border tunnel. There are fireworks on the Rouge river on the 4th of July, so we decided to stick around and watch them, the rail being somewhat elevated above the buildings and all. A few minutes later we noticed a truck coming down the rail. Figured it was maintenance or something. Nope! It was Homeland Security. Hurray! The truck (which ended up being two trucks in tandem) pulled up on either side of us. The kicked my friend in the back cause he stuck his hands in his pockets after we were expressly told, "Hands on your head!" Initially they thought we were trying to sneak through the tunnel, I guess. Supposedly that's a big problem they have, based on what they told us. It ended up being alright, though. We just told them that we were there to watch the fireworks and they let us off with a warning because the no trespassing signs were so faded that they were illegible. Our buddy came and picked us up after we walked off. All was well.
Jeremy (CanadianHopper), that sounds pretty exciting! What you got planned? Or is it a big secret? ;)
And InfinityRelic, that's a cool story. So I presume they have heat sensors and cameras all over the place near the border tunnel? Shit man, it's a good thing you jumped off when you did. Better to get busted there than on the other side of the tunnel!
And InfinityRelic, that's a cool story. So I presume they have heat sensors and cameras all over the place near the border tunnel? Shit man, it's a good thing you jumped off when you did. Better to get busted there than on the other side of the tunnel!
Yeah, I would assume security is pretty bolstered around there. We got lucky. Once things had cooled down a bit and they realized we weren't a threat, they started telling us a bunch of stories about convicts trying to sneak through there from both sides.
I've recently been told about a few areas that are easier to cross the usa/canada boarder on a train. I can't post that info here but if you wanna msg me I could maybe fill you in. Although if your an experienced rider then you already know. Guys are doing it all the time. Live to ride!
