Train Hopping During the Great Depression

It wasn’t just men who hopped freighters back in the 1930s either. Families looking to relocate or who followed crops for migrant farm work were seen to ride the rails, women and children included. Even sadder were the kids who had either runaway from home or who were orphaned and were jumping trains all by themselves.

But, there was also a sizable portion of train hoppers who loved the thrill of doing something illicit or the beauty of the scenery and the stars as seen from the top of a train car. These are experiences most folks would never get to have, but which, for a short time before World War II, were part of the American experience.