Punishment for Freight Hopping

I've never been freight hopping before and as I'm from ireland it's unlikely I'll get a chance to do it here due to our lack of freight lines. Was just wondering what kind of legal trouble I could run into if I got caught in Canada say, also any advice as to getting started with freight hopping would be very much appreciated

thanks :)

I get asked this all the time in the comments on my freight videos. The answer is "I don't know, and I hope I never find out" :P

I guess it depends who catches you, where you are and what you were doing. But whatever happens, I bet it's not fun. Best not to risk it!

In Canada it can range from "hey you get the hell out of there" to a fine and/or a trespassing charge. Canada has two types of trespassing charges, petty and criminal. The latter merits a criminal record.

Like Dave said, in canada in really depends who catches who, and where. I've heard many many stories of guys just being told to get the hell outta there and never come back. But if they want the charges can be steep. $5,000 And 2 years jail I think is the max charge

Although generally the max isn't applied for the first offence.

I was talking to a homeless dude in NY who used to hop a lot of freight trains on my way to jump on the Amtrak and head up to Toronto to catch out. When I told him about this and asked if he had any pointers he warned me to be careful since as a foreigner I could be up for a stiffer punishment if caught. Said he had an English mate who got caught and deported and put on the terror watch list under some urban terrorism laws. Having said that this was the states rather than Canada so I'd imagine they'd be a bit tougher on it. On one of wizehops videos (can't remember which one) he also goes into getting caught in a foreign country and mentions you'd be looking at a 4 year ban from the country under said laws I'm assuming. So I guess you gotta look at it worst case scenario: could you handle potentially not being allowed into the country for 4 years?

4NDY, first you get anally raped by 4 moose then you get your pecker chewed off by a pack of rabid beaver then you go through the gauntlet of mosquitoes THEN you go through the slaying of the black flies THEN it's the sea of No-See-Ums THEN you got to sleep with a cougar (and make her come) AND THEN you realise your a sucker for reading this post :-P

Seeing as how Gab has bumped this thread I thought I'd post in it again with a little update, as I now know what can happen when you're wanted for freight hopping.

• An arrest warrant is put out for you which, if you're foreign, means you can't enter the country any more until it expires 10 years later.

Source: It happened to me 2 months ago :P

Gotta wear a mask all the time lol

Sucks big time though, Dave. That bull is a twat.

Hah! Wearing a mask the whole time wouldn't work for me. I couldn't make adventure videos if I had to be anonymous in them as it would defy the whole point of the "Brave Dave" persona. Also the video would be on my channel, starring a masked man who looks and sounds suspiciously like me, saying "Hi, I'm Brave Dave" every 10 minutes. I don't think it would do much to protect me from prosecution :P

Fair enough haha

Dave, if that warrant of yours was already issued days after your incident back in 2016, you should already have 9 years left on that. Oh, my how time flies, sir! Then you signed a document saying you can't enter the country within the next ten years from the day you signed it, so I might be confused a little. Once everything expires from your end, though, I do want to meet you here! We'll sip a few beers, take an auto rack to Atlanta, and then an IM cross-country to Los Angeles, Seattle, or something. We'll be in our 40's by then, but I would rather chase freight trains more than chase women anyway, and I am afraid that is what the next 35 years of my life will be.

^ haha I'll drink to that

Haha, okay Quad, let's meet up. I'll just write it down in my 2027 diary ;)

I may join you on the freight part if allowed (and possibly the beer)

I've been pulled off a train once a few years back in Manchester George. Had been travling with two other riders at the time. The police were called, we were ask to get off the train however we were not arrested. We were giving a warning. CSX put us on there black list, just means they keep your information on file so that if you get caught again on there trains or railyards you will more than likely be arrested.

I also got a citation by a bull " rail cop " in cloverville, New Mexico for walking next to a BNSF rail line buy a bull. I was actually about 5 miles outside the yard with another rider. That is one thing he and I wasn't expecting. It all varies as far as them arresting you, have seen first time riders get off with just a warning and I have seen first time riders go straight to jail without any warning.

It does seem some train companies are more much aggressive pertaining to a arrest than others however in the past years the seem to be more aggressive about keeping riders off there trains.