Freighthopping

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title: "Freighthopping" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["articles-containing-video-clips", "rail-freight-transport", "organized-crime-activity", "train-surfing"] description: "Act of surreptitiously boarding and riding a railroad freight car" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freighthopping" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Act of surreptitiously boarding and riding a railroad freight car ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Bakersfield,_California._On_the_Freights.Helping_a_newcomer_hop_a_freight-NARA-_532069.tif" caption="Freight-hopping youth near [[Bakersfield, California]] ([[National Youth Administration]], 1940)"] ::

Freighthopping or trainhopping is the act of boarding and riding a freightcar without permission. This activity itself is often considered to be illegal, although this varies by geography. It may be associated with other illegal activities such as theft or vagrancy.

Train surfing is a similar activity that involves the act of riding on the outside of a moving train, tram or another rail transport, without paying a due fare.

History

For a variety of reasons the practice is less common in the 21st century, although a community of freight-train riders still exists.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/MKZD_south_and_west_part_views_from_freight_train_before_reconstruction.webm" caption="Riding on the rooftop of a [[hopper car"] ::

Typically, hoppers will go to a rail yard where trains stop to pick up and unload freight and switch out crew. They will either board a freight car in some fashion unseen or "catch one on the fly" once it has begun to move.

Dangers

Main article: List of train-surfing injuries and deaths

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Hemingway_train_surf_restoration.png" caption="[[Ernest Hemingway]] hopping a freight train to get to [[Walloon Lake]] (1916)"] ::

Riding outside a freight car, whether atop or underneath, is dangerous.

Today

Hopping trains happens all over the world and styles, and practices and legal penalties vary by region. Some places are more critical and consider freight hopping a crime, and other places are more lenient.

Europe

Freight-hopping exists in various countries and across borders, including the Eurostar and Eurotunnel Shuttle as a route for migrants to cross the English Channel from France into England.

United States

Union Pacific Railroad in the United States encourages people who witness transients on freight trains to report them to its dispatch center. According to a sheriff's deputy from Lincoln County, Nebraska, train hoppers no longer write symbols on trees and buildings, but there is still a network of train hoppers that occurs mostly online.

Australia

Australia has a small community of freight-hoppers, consisting mainly of teens and young adults, who hop for various reasons, including family issues, and more. They are found mostly in the major cities, and lines, such as the Brisbane–Sydney line, and other major freight routes. The community is very tight, and difficult to get into. Most media regarding modern hopping in Australia is private, or hard to find.

Mexico

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/FERROSUR_4400_NORTE.jpg" caption="A freight train with freight hoppers in Mexico"] ::

It is estimated that yearly between 400,000 and 500,000 migrants—the majority of whom are from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—hop freight trains in the effort to reach the United States. The freight trains are known as La Bestia.

Mauritania

In the Mauritania Railway, freighthoppers can ride with their cargo freely due to the lack of road between Zouérat and Nouadhibou.

References

References

1. "Hobo Bibliography". [[Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture]].
2. Iverson, Wayne. (2010). "Hobo Sapien". Robert Reed Publishers.
3. "Boy Critically Injured Trying to Jump Train in Northeast Philly".
4. (11 June 1997). "Stowaways make 240-mile journey beneath Eurostar".
5. (10 April 2002). "Stowaways foil tunnel security".
6. Johnson, Heather. (August 28, 2018). "Ridin' the rails". The North Platte Telegraph.
7. Sorrentino, Joseph. (26 November 2012). "Train of the Unknowns". Commonweal.
8. (28 April 2010). "Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico". Amnesty International Publishers.
9. Mykolas, Juodele. (24 July 2017). "Freight Train Hopping In Mauritania: 4000 Kilometers In A Cargo Carriage With Local Shepherds And Their Sheep". [[Bored Panda]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::