1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,400 Speaker 1: Just a heads up. This episode contains aboult language and 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:13,239 Speaker 1: discussion of suicide, so take care while listening. When I 3 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:16,640 Speaker 1: first imagined Ruby hopping trains, my idea of it was romantic. 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,320 Speaker 1: She'd be sitting with her back resting at the edge 5 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: of an open box car door, open fields rushing by her, 6 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: one leg extended, smoking a cigarette. I knew that trains 7 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: were dangerous, but this was the image I clung to. 8 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: It helped me get to sleep at night. I also 9 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: recognized that if I was going to understand when she 10 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: was up against, I had to see a train yard myself. 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,159 Speaker 1: That's how I ended up in Roseville, one of the 12 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: biggest yards on the West Coast, to see what my 13 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: daughter would face if she was running through the train 14 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,479 Speaker 1: yard trying to hop a train. Sometimes, you know, a 15 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: train goes by and it's squealing and you hear all 16 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:53,480 Speaker 1: these sounds of like chuck chuck, the clock, the clock 17 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: noises and stuff. But then other times, in the middle 18 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: of night, a car just sales by you You didn't 19 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,279 Speaker 1: hear anything, not in a whisper. It just comes out 20 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: of the fog and just you're like, oh God, but 21 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: but the but the kids who traveled don't know this, 22 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 1: and they could be running between long corridors of trains. Absolutely, yeah, yes, 23 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: I've seen all kinds of people do that. I'd heard 24 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: Ruby might have come through Roosevelt, a railroad hub with 25 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: tracks that could take her over the Sierras to the 26 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: Midwest or north to Canada. But at first you'd have 27 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: to make her way through the train yard, across the 28 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: tracks and between the freight cars. You're in the danger zone. 29 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:31,920 Speaker 1: It's basically like running across the tarmac at l a X. 30 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: If I were to try to walk across all these 31 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: tracks ahead of me, each one of them is easily 32 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: able to have, like a fifteen thousand ton train sixties 33 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: seventy eight. Although I didn't know much about trains the 34 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: day Ruby left, I was learning as much as I could, 35 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: as fast as I could. What I could learn on 36 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: the web would only take me so far. Like there 37 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: was finding out lots of people died in the train 38 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: yard every year. But how did that happen? If I'm 39 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: running across in front of a plane that's landing, Um, 40 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: you know, most people would think that would be crazy. 41 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: It would be like something you do like on an 42 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: insane daredevil. Bet No, one compares that to running in 43 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: front of a train which could be going almost the 44 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: same speed. I came to Roosevelt to find out what 45 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: Ruby could face in the yard, but it turned out 46 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,399 Speaker 1: that this dusty little town had some surprises for me. Sure, 47 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: I didn't think much about trains before Ruby left, but 48 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: when her friends talked about riding or I imagined Ruby 49 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: in that box car, I felt the draw. That was 50 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: my naive idea about how romantic a solo journey could be. 51 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,960 Speaker 1: But in Roseville I learned the people who ride the 52 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: rails and the people who work in the yard experience 53 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: something more visceral. Inside the yard, they go up against 54 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: rob power every day, and it changes how they see 55 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: the world. The train yard is where all of this begins, 56 00:02:49,880 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: the gateway to the city of the rails. For HBO's 57 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: the train yard is like the subway platform the bus stop. 58 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: They don't plan to spend a ton of time there, 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: but they do because they usually don't know when their 60 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: train is going to leave. So Roseville, one of the 61 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: biggest yards in the West, was a good place to 62 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: start to understand the situation Ruby face when she tried 63 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: to hop a train without the fifty or sixty trains 64 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: at a coming through Roosevelt. There was a lot of emotion, 65 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: a lot of things could go wrong. I needed someone 66 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: to guide me through this world, because while it was big, 67 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: noisy and obvious, it was also mysterious to outsiders. Beyond 68 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: that chaos, there was more than you could see at 69 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: a glance. I wanted to find the person who could 70 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: show me that, so I started calling around, trying to 71 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: find a yard worker or a train conductor, someone who 72 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: worked on the ground who could walk me through life 73 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: in the yard. Finally, on my tenth call, a guy 74 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: told me he knew someone who could talk my ear 75 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: off basically just because they need. That's my kind of guy. 76 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Hudson. I'm a former switchman and 77 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 1: brakeman and conductor for the Pacific Railroad. I told Robert 78 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: I wanted to know what my daughter faced in the yard. 79 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: So on a Wednesday afternoon, he picked me up to 80 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: drive me around Roseville. He had a bunch of spots 81 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: he wanted to show me that would give me a 82 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: full view of the yard. And Roseville is one of 83 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: the weirdest towns that you see around California. Because Robert 84 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: is ready faced with thick sandy brown hair and blue 85 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:48,159 Speaker 1: eyes that brighton when he talks about the train yard, 86 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: and boy can he talk. It's got five sections, and 87 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: if you drive through Roseville it looks like any other 88 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: California mountain town except for the fact that you can 89 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: see and hear the trains all time. You'd never suspect 90 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: it was part of the international economy, a hub where 91 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: good shipped from Asia passed through on their way to 92 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,480 Speaker 1: places all around the US. On our way around the yard, 93 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: Robert showed me how much the country owes two little 94 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: towns like this. We're actually right next to the old 95 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: telegraphy office, which I don't think a lot of people 96 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: realize that. If you ever heard heard of Sprint UM, 97 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: Sprint is Southern Pacific Internal Network Telephone YEP. It was 98 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: origionally started as the Railroad telephones before we had radios. 99 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:36,480 Speaker 1: In the seventies, the Southern Pacific Railroad laid telegraph lines 100 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: along its train tracks. Over the next hundred years, those 101 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:43,239 Speaker 1: lines became fiber optic cables, and in two the Southern 102 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: Pacific began to sell its communication network as a service 103 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,679 Speaker 1: to private customers, which later became Sprint Mobile Southern Pacific Railroad, 104 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: internal network telephony. All these facts about the rails that 105 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: came rattling out of Robert made me go, huh, really, 106 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: people have no idea how much the railroad effects in 107 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: their lives, you know, like it reaches its fingers into 108 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: almost everything. We get all these different cities that's sprung up, 109 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: just like Roseville, you know, came out of nowhere because 110 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: it was just a place for two railroads crossed. With 111 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: Robert is my guide. This place was coming alive to me. 112 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: There was order in this chaos. It wasn't just a 113 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: place where two rail tracks crossed. It was right in 114 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: the center of the economy. As we approach the center 115 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:30,280 Speaker 1: of the yard, Robert pulls over and this is um 116 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: Right here is like the side of the yard, which 117 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: is the receiving yard that normally picks up a whole 118 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:40,360 Speaker 1: bunch of cars from We're looking at the main part 119 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 1: of the yard, about fifty tracks wide, with pieces of 120 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,679 Speaker 1: trains scattered around, a few train cars linked together, standing 121 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: here or there on different tracks, not going anywhere. Robert 122 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,479 Speaker 1: points to a long cut of cars stacked high with 123 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: shrink wrapped packages, and then there's a whole bunch of 124 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,159 Speaker 1: of cars that have lumber on them from you know, 125 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: upen Oregon in Washington, and so those are a lot 126 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: of those are actually probably headed down to the Bay 127 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: Area to get on ships and to go to China, 128 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: because our wood is actually going mostly to China. Right now, 129 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: I looked at at the United States is a number 130 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: one exporter of wood to China, nearly a billion tons 131 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: of wood a year, and each one of those cars 132 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: carried two hundred thousand pounds of lumber, enough to build 133 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: six houses per car. The memberships out to China through 134 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: the Port of Oakland. But the same freight trains can 135 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: carry anything chicken feed, meet, even air Jordan's. Some cars 136 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: hold finished goods destined for Walmart and Amazon warehouses. And 137 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: along the way a lot of those trains passed through Roseville. 138 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: It's one of America's main gateways for shipping. Robert told 139 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: me what happens when the train enters the yard, so 140 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: it comes in is one train shuffles up like into 141 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: different pieces, and it goes out the other end, and 142 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: it's now like a new train. It's only if it 143 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: actually has to get shuffled that it goes in the yard. 144 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: In the first place. Otherwise it would just go right 145 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: past the yard. But if it's you know, if it 146 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: has to get shuffled and it comes in on the 147 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: west side, say, and then they put it back together 148 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: and give it a new engine and it takes off 149 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: to the east side. This is the same basic operation 150 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: that's sent goods around America since we started shipping by 151 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: rail in the early eight hundreds. Trains enter the yard 152 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: carrying one set of cars and leave with another. And 153 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: if you're paying attention, they can tell you a lot. 154 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: So the fun thing about the railroad is that because 155 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: it's behind the scenes, uh, you have the sense of 156 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,679 Speaker 1: like every industry, I mean, there's a there's a finger 157 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: on the pulse of like the nation that we have 158 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: that a lot of people don't. So the railroad is 159 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: very much like um driven by the whole economy. So 160 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: about a third of all of the goods in the 161 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: entire country that are sold in every store go through 162 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: the Port of Oakland or Port of l A. So 163 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: we move all that stuff. Those are just two ports, 164 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:51,719 Speaker 1: and they receive a third of the goods that are 165 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: then shipped across America. And Robert said he knew when 166 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: the economy was getting shaky just by watching the traffic 167 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,079 Speaker 1: in the yard, because I could tell, Like by in 168 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,719 Speaker 1: two thousand, for example, I knew that the economy wasn't 169 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: doing well for sure, you know, maybe like you're in advance. 170 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: I mean, because there was less and less railroad cars. 171 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: I mean I was, I was working over time, and 172 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, I was barely working seven 173 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: hours a day and getting paid for eight. And this 174 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: is before the actual crash. Yeah, before the crash, by 175 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:23,440 Speaker 1: at least a good eight months or something. Roseville is 176 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: more than it appears. This dusty old yard is an 177 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 1: international crossroads with hundreds of thousands of tons of goods 178 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: passing through. Sure didn't look that way, so we ignore 179 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: the train yards mostly, and the trains are indifferent to us. 180 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: They're too big, too busy to react to a little 181 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: human or two who might be standing in the way. 182 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,079 Speaker 1: And taking advantage of that are thousands of hoboes looking 183 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 1: in the empty cars, hoping that and all of this 184 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: slamming together and breaking apart, they could slip between the shadows, quickly, 185 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: leap over the gaps quietly to get where they're going unscathed. 186 00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: From my vantage point, at the end of the yard. 187 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: The odds of them make king It didn't look good. 188 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 1: Robert was taking me to an even scarier place, the 189 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: place where all the noise falls away. The hop is 190 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:27,599 Speaker 1: probably the most dangerous place in the yard. Before I 191 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: met up with Robert and Roseville, I went online trying 192 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: to figure out where I should go next. To find Ruby. 193 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: I found maps of train routes and imagine the view 194 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: from a train headed over the rockies or alongside the 195 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: Hudson in the fall. But I also wanted some basic facts. 196 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: There's seven railroads with big freight yards like Roseville stashed 197 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: around the country. These places where the trains come together 198 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: and break apart are where hoboes switched from one train 199 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: to another, heading to where they want to go. Leaping 200 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 1: between trains is a dangerous move. About five people a 201 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: year die on railroad property, more than one a day. 202 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,200 Speaker 1: To help me understand how these people died, Robert took 203 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: me across the yard to see the hump. So we 204 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: see if there's some spot, so way exactly are we yes? 205 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: I was gonna say, this is a spot where we're 206 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: on the quieter side of like the rail yard. Robert 207 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: points to the spot he wanted to show me, maybe 208 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: a hundred feet from where we're standing. It's like trains 209 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: would be coming from the left of me and going 210 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: to the right of me, and the right after you 211 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: know you as the hump. Then it goes into the 212 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 1: bowl to the to the right of me. It's definitely 213 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,959 Speaker 1: like a substantial hill. I think the mountain is probably 214 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: twenty feet, but then below that there's a bowl that 215 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: actually goes down into the ground and is lower than 216 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: the ground level, so it might drop twenty five ft. 217 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:49,200 Speaker 1: I watched as one by one, huge freight cars glide 218 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: across the tracks played out on the other side of 219 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: the hump, going maybe five miles. They appear to operate 220 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,320 Speaker 1: on their own power, the engines pushing it up that hill, 221 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,240 Speaker 1: and then they're just rolling off into that to that 222 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: bowl by gravity. It's eerie. The train cars moved silently, swiftly. 223 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: Unless you knew to look for them, you'd never see 224 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 1: them coming. Would we see them coming? And writers weren't 225 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: the only ones who are at risk on the hump. 226 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,959 Speaker 1: The people who worked there were two. JP Right started 227 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: his life in the yard working on top of the hump, 228 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: and he knew how dangerous that work could be. How 229 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:30,319 Speaker 1: big is the yard that you started at? Which one 230 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: was that? Oh gosh, it was Osborne Yards in Louisville, Kentucky. 231 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: I can't remember how many acres it was. The hump 232 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 1: is still hand operated. As cars come over the hill, 233 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:42,839 Speaker 1: there's a human being there separating the cars by hand. 234 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: JP right used to be one of those people working 235 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: the hump, pulling the pins to separate the cars at 236 00:12:48,040 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: the knuckle before they rolled onto the tracks. As simple 237 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: as it sounds, the job can be grueling. So you 238 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: reach in maybe like half of arm lights and you 239 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: pull this thing that lift the pin up in between 240 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: the two knuckles. So you're lifting ten to twelve pounds 241 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,839 Speaker 1: with one armed all night, over and over and over 242 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: and over again. The kind of the train is coming 243 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: over the hump and you're reaching your hand in there 244 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: to pull this lever. Yet that allows the car to 245 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: separate back gravity when it goes over the hump. As 246 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: the train keeps rolling new cars up to the hump, 247 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: a pin pullar has to be there at the ready, 248 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: and some trains are miles long. The plan was to 249 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: get six cards a night on a shift, so there's 250 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: two people doing it. How many nights I would walk ten, twelve, 251 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: fifteen miles a night on top the hill. I lost 252 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: forty pounds the first year I did it. It took strength, 253 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: quick reflexes, an excellent hand eye coordination, and if you 254 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,040 Speaker 1: made a mistake, it was one you'd never forget. Robert 255 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: Hudson told me pin pullers had a reputation, you know, 256 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: the pin pullers, by the fact that they would lose 257 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: fingers almost inevitably. So they're like two or three fingers 258 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: on these guys, and they grabuly like pin out and 259 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:06,439 Speaker 1: they'd separate the cars that way. But as you can imagine, 260 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,520 Speaker 1: like that was very dangerous. JP told me about one 261 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: close call he had. I was reading the cars on 262 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: the track next to me, and I accidentally moved over 263 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 1: a little bit too far to the next track, and 264 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: UH car comes flying by, and I felt the wind 265 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: of it on my shoulder and on my head, So 266 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: I was that close and then there it went, and 267 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: I was like, fuck, I never heard coming. But JP 268 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: knew the hazards and being a pin pully was just 269 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: an entry point to something greater. He had his sight 270 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: set on the best job in the yard, being an 271 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: engineer who can pull down a hundred thousand dollars a 272 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: year with just a high school education. Besides the money, 273 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 1: driving the train was a huge part of the appeal. 274 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 1: As dangerous as they are, trains show you hidden places 275 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: in the world. As four testosterone purposes, there was nothing 276 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: better than getting up on the train on a really 277 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: nice night. You got to really good locomotives. So you're 278 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: gonna go sixty and you crack open the windows. It's 279 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: nice outside. You cracked that throttle and off you go 280 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: through the back roads of Kentucky all the way through 281 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: to Tennessee. I mean, there's an absolute allure to the 282 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: whole thing. Of course, it's almost like you're in the 283 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: wild wild West riding your big you know, four thousand horses. 284 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: When you are participating in how you feel that you 285 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 1: are really building the country. You're you're out there doing 286 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: something that has a long tradition. You're in one of 287 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 1: the oldest unions in the United States. There's all this 288 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: brotherhood's talk, and it's easily to get wrapped up into 289 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: this whole fucking cowboy movie that you're a part of 290 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: every night. It isn't just a thrill that attracts rail 291 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: workers is knowing that you're part of something bigger. Pretty 292 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: Much anything that anybody has on their body or in 293 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 1: their home or anything is delivered somehow on a train. 294 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: So it's a very important part of our economy. And 295 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: we're told that, you know, as part of the company jargon, 296 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: but we also know that, hey, we're proud. It's a tradition. 297 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: You're proud is a great tradition in this country. Their tradition, 298 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: JP is so proud of still uses technology that hasn't 299 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: been improved upon from more than a century. But these 300 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: simple technologies, like the hump or the high tech of 301 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: their time, they changed the world, just like the Internet 302 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,880 Speaker 1: or smartphones have shaped our world today. These trains connected America, 303 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: tying individual cities together into a country. They created a network. 304 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,240 Speaker 1: Historian Richard White told me how the railroads really were 305 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: the Internet of their day. Places that have been isolated 306 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: from each other. They might be thirty miles apart, but 307 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: nobody would ever see each other because it was too 308 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 1: hard to go down muddy roads to do it. With 309 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 1: the rails, those people would become neighbors. And it's not 310 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 1: just thirty mile So we've been hundreds of miles away, 311 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: places that would have been utterly strange would now become familiar. 312 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: That's essentially the same thing the Silicon Valley promised in 313 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: the late early twenty first century. The The argument was simply, 314 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:17,600 Speaker 1: information could travel so quickly people would be able to 315 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: see each other, talk to each other, here each other 316 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: without filters in between them. Then, in fact, this kind 317 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: of neighborly listening community would arise from the technology itself. 318 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: The railroads brought people together, just like the Internet did, 319 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: connecting people in ways that were previously impossible, And just 320 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: like with the Internet, there was a lot of commentary 321 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: and criticism about the railroads. Phil Sexton, a local railroad 322 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: historian in Roseville, told me that when trains began to 323 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: spread in the early eighteen hundreds, they had their own 324 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: version of the y two K panic. There were actually 325 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:54,399 Speaker 1: scientists in Europe who postulated that by moving as fast 326 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 1: as thirty miles an hour, you would be irrevocably damaged 327 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: due to the g forces. But damn the warnings. Americans 328 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: wanted to be on the move. Being able to travel 329 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,640 Speaker 1: quickly and freely change the US from a farming country 330 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: to an industrial one. Starting with the big growth of 331 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: the cities. The people who took to the rails of 332 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,239 Speaker 1: the eighties had something in common with those who are 333 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: on the rails today. They just had to go. Some 334 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:21,800 Speaker 1: people just have itchy feet. If you remember the end 335 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,439 Speaker 1: of Huck Finn, he talks about lighting out for the 336 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: territory ahead of the rest because it's just too civilized 337 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: where he is, And a lot of people felt that way, 338 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: And a lot of people wanted farm land, or they 339 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: just wanted what they felt was more freedom and kind 340 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: of breathing space. With trains, remote places whose journeys were 341 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,679 Speaker 1: once too treacherous or too far, we're now within reach. 342 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,479 Speaker 1: That meant that people who wanted to go could go 343 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 1: further and much more easily. All those dreamers and scoundrels 344 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,440 Speaker 1: who wanted a new life could board a train to California, 345 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,199 Speaker 1: which had a geography much different from the East. Who 346 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: could imagine seven thousand foot tall amount and being in 347 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: snow in June or July for you know, the strange 348 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: rocks that you would see of verdant, vibrant colors in 349 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:12,160 Speaker 1: different mining areas. It's very unlike any in the eastern 350 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:16,360 Speaker 1: United States, but it wasn't just California, it was all 351 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: the stops along the way, the three thousand mile breadth 352 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: of the country, with the tracks late east to west 353 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 1: along the route. Noon was different in New York than 354 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: it was in Sacramento. Trains had to stay on schedule, 355 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 1: schedules had to stay in sync. Robert Husson described the 356 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: railroad solution when we all used to this day time zones. 357 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,719 Speaker 1: Time zones comes from the railroad, you know, we we 358 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 1: uh we get time zones because they had to be 359 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: on the same time when they got to the next town. 360 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: They couldn't, you know, say like, oh yeah, sorry, noon 361 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: is different here, fifteen minutes different. Something that didn't work 362 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:52,639 Speaker 1: for them. So they had to find a way to 363 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 1: like have every begin on the same time zone. I 364 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,159 Speaker 1: mean time zones. There's such a given in life. I 365 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: never thought that someone or some busy this invented them. 366 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:03,200 Speaker 1: You know, it's hard to believe that there was a 367 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: time when people would just look up and be like, well, 368 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: the suns in the middle of the skuy, so it's new. 369 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: It had to be right, otherwise there was no way 370 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: to communicate. If the train was five minutes behind, then 371 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: they'd be crashing into another train. The railroads accomplished a 372 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,920 Speaker 1: huge feed synchronizing the world's measurement of time from one 373 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: zone to the next. So if you're ever curious why 374 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: New York is three hours ahead of California, the answer 375 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: is railroads. Some historians say the railroads invented modern life, 376 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: and that modernity begins after a country builds his first railroad. 377 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: So many things developed by railroads hundreds of years ago 378 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,239 Speaker 1: are still part of our everyday lives. Railroads gave us 379 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: cruise control and air brakes, even QR codes. The way 380 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,640 Speaker 1: they synchronized time even had a role in Einstein's theory 381 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: of relativity. But really was off the clock, out in 382 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: the world, unconcerned by schedules. If I was right that 383 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: she was train hopping somewhere, it was funny to me 384 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: that young travel was rejecting modern life by hopping on 385 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,560 Speaker 1: a train, the thing that created the world. They were 386 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: rejecting something primal, drew people to the rails. Otherwise they'd 387 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:09,640 Speaker 1: take one look at the train yard and come straight home. 388 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: Had weby been through Roseville? Where had she gone? What 389 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,880 Speaker 1: had she seen? I still didn't know, but I knew 390 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: it didn't really matter where she hopped out from. It 391 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:25,479 Speaker 1: was obvious that any train yard could kill you. Did 392 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: Ruby know this when she left? Was that even a 393 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,119 Speaker 1: factor in her decision? Then again, maybe all of the 394 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: reasons I was coming up with didn't matter to her. 395 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: They were a mom's reasons, and the fact that I 396 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: wanted to find a reason seemed like a very mom 397 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: thing too. That explanation could be a lot simpler than that, 398 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: if I was willing to let my mind go to 399 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: the part of the past I didn't want to revisit. 400 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: Ruby had been having a hard time before I moved 401 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: us to Oakland, and we'd almost lost her. Then I 402 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,199 Speaker 1: was running off to the rails. Ruby's second attempt at 403 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: suicide m hm hm, who I I'm gonna tell the 404 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:23,959 Speaker 1: truth about We came before she went to hop trains. 405 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:32,119 Speaker 1: When she was fourteen years old, she tried to commit 406 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: suicide and I have a journal of that time. Oh God, 407 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 1: they're heavy, um, it says Ruby. Trouble here it comes. 408 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: So January, sitting in the St. John's emergency room looking 409 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: at Ruby hooked up to I V's oxygen. She's taken 410 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: a drug overdose. A number of different drugs, the names 411 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: of which are unfamiliar to people at the emergency room. 412 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: This happened four years before Ruby ran away from graduation, 413 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: and rereading it was almost more than I could bear. 414 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: After Roosevelle, I recognized the despair in those pages when 415 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 1: passage struck me hard. I consulted a psychiatrist while Ruby 416 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: was in the hospital. We spoke about moving forward from 417 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:25,960 Speaker 1: this tragedy. What would be the next steps for her. 418 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: He told me she couldn't go back to high school 419 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: every day. Min's really pulled the rug out from under 420 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,640 Speaker 1: me with this. He said that if I placed her 421 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: back in Malibu, she would do this again, and reminded 422 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,880 Speaker 1: me that some years the goal was just to keep 423 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: her alive. That's it, just keep her breathing. That was 424 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: as much as we could hope for, not dream of 425 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: her using her gifts and art, her talent in music 426 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: to make a life that had meaning to her and 427 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: brought something to the world. Considering the hopes I had 428 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:01,399 Speaker 1: for my daughter, this seems so meager, so base. Reading this, 429 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: I still feel the anguish that this was the goal 430 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:11,119 Speaker 1: again some mother I turned out to be sitting on 431 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: the floor of my office with my journal scattered around me. 432 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,199 Speaker 1: The person I wanted to talk to is JP. Right 433 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: since that first phone call, we talked a lot about 434 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: how much the rails could take from you physically and emotionally. 435 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,719 Speaker 1: JP was a railroad engineer with the soul of a hobo. 436 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: I first found him through his songs that spoke to 437 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 1: modern day hobo life but not no hope been traveling 438 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: and not going to help Ball. Something about JP's music 439 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: made me think he would understand, so I called him 440 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:48,640 Speaker 1: it's because it's so dangerous. When we were talking about 441 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: how the yard comes together, you know in the silent 442 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:55,320 Speaker 1: hors that are sliding off the hump. A question that 443 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: was in my mind then, which I sort of suppressed, 444 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,080 Speaker 1: was was this jumping to the rails that attempt to 445 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:06,399 Speaker 1: commit suicide again? Second attempt? Oh? I mean, do you 446 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:12,159 Speaker 1: think that is an overreaction on my part? Most of 447 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: the people that I've met that has an hardcore travelers, 448 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,240 Speaker 1: they know that they're going to this place. It's almost 449 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,680 Speaker 1: like the shadows within the shadow. So you know, it's 450 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 1: like I'm I'm so desperate uh to be gone, that 451 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:33,159 Speaker 1: I'm going to go somewhere where I know that I 452 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,240 Speaker 1: will be almost invisible to all of society. Nobody is 453 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: going to care that I'm out here. It is the darkness. 454 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 1: You're going head first into the darkness, and you're kind 455 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: of just leaving the whole thing up to faith. If 456 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: you really just want to kill yourself, then that's a 457 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: good place to go, if you don't want to actually 458 00:25:54,840 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: do it. I mean, in the context of the miss 459 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,879 Speaker 1: a cool idea of the hero's journey, that's you're standing 460 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: at the edge of the cliff. I'm taking the risk. 461 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: I'm throwing all my cards on the table and I'm 462 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 1: leaving and I'm gone. Fuck it. So I mean I 463 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: could see that. Yeah, maybe leaven nothing. That's my trade. 464 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: Lonely sorrows. The story I'm gone, Lord, I'm gone. Lord, 465 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: I'm gone, Lord, I'm gone. Was shp right that walking 466 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: into the rail yard was walking head first into the darkness. 467 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: I've been on the edge of the darkness, but I 468 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: wanted to find someone to take me in. I knew 469 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: that wasn't going to be easy. The railroads will arrest 470 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 1: you for trespassing if they catch you, and if you 471 00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: get someone to bring you inside, that person will get fired. 472 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,679 Speaker 1: They could get fired for even talking to me. The 473 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:13,960 Speaker 1: only reason j P and Robert Husson were willing to 474 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,119 Speaker 1: go on the record is because they don't work for 475 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: the railroad anymore. But how I'll call anybody, And the 476 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: person I wanted to talk to was a conductor. Freight 477 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:25,720 Speaker 1: conductors are not like the ones you see on a 478 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: passenger train, the guys who take your ticket. In the 479 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: world of freight trains, the engineer drives the train and 480 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,199 Speaker 1: the conductor manages it, meaning he walks the length of 481 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,439 Speaker 1: the train to check that it's in order and guides 482 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 1: it through the yard when it arrives. He knows the yard, 483 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: knows how it moves and it's rhythm, and he interacts 484 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: with hoboes all the time. If I could find a 485 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: conductor willing to take me into the yard, I'd know 486 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:53,120 Speaker 1: a lot. In just a few hours, I hunted down 487 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,239 Speaker 1: a copy of the conductor's union roster and called our 488 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: emailed everyone on it, and then just sort of waited 489 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 1: and waited, did and waited. I was amazed when conductor 490 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: Jonathan Esposito called me back and just curious, so you 491 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,680 Speaker 1: you just found my name? I called. I called several people. 492 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: You're the only persons that have called has called you back. Okay, 493 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,359 Speaker 1: all right. Jonathan was weary at first, of course, because 494 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 1: he could lose his job for talking to the media. 495 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: And I wanted something even worse than that. I wanted 496 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,440 Speaker 1: him to take me trespassing to learn about life inside 497 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: the yard. So I asked it. To my surprise, he 498 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 1: said yes. So what I will do is I'll take 499 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 1: you to Roseville and then I will take you out 500 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: to either Westgate or Polk I don't I don't want 501 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 1: to make it. I don't want to get you in trouble. 502 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: But the other hand, I really want to do this. No, 503 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:52,680 Speaker 1: I've already I've already said I'm gonna I don't have 504 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: a problem doing it. I was so astonished by this. 505 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: I called one of my railroad buddies, who also thought 506 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: Jonathan was nuts. Oh, I don't care how many tours 507 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 1: of duty he had into rack, and I don't care 508 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 1: how big his balls are. They will fire his ass 509 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 1: for behavior onbecoming an employee. It'll be very hard for 510 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: him to beat it. Even so, Jonathan kept his word. 511 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: I met up with him in front of his house 512 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: near Sacramento on a Sunday afternoon. I thought it would 513 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: be just him and me, But he had a woman 514 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: with him in his driveway. Hey, Amy, hy She was 515 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 1: part of the plan too. The reason he was bringing 516 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: his girlfriend Amy along was for our cover story. I'd 517 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: sit in the front and Amy be in the bath. 518 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: If anyone stopped us, he'd say it was his girlfriend's mom. 519 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: He was showing around. Thanks, Jonathan. So when we get 520 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 1: into the yard, do we go through a security gate? 521 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: We just go through some kind of a gate where 522 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: you have a gate. I will show you how easy 523 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: it is to to get into the yard. We set 524 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: off in Jonathan's SUV out of the subdivision where he 525 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,440 Speaker 1: and Amy lived and down a big country road. We 526 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,160 Speaker 1: driven half an hour when Jonathan pulled into what appeared 527 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,080 Speaker 1: to be just another vacant lot. No signs announcing an 528 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: entrance are warnings to stay away from railroad property. But 529 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,280 Speaker 1: all of a sudden we were inside the yard. Oh wow, 530 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: here we are Pacific Railroad rose Ville Yard. Part of 531 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: Jonathan's plan included bringing his railroad radio. He was talking 532 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: to me, but he had one ear open to hear 533 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: if the railroad was on to us. Actual. As he 534 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: drove along, Jonathan pointed out the tracks that extend from 535 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 1: the hump, each name for its destination. This is the 536 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: east end of the yard. Up that way is too 537 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 1: uh cake Falls, Dunsmere. Going that way is Sparks, and 538 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: the east. The east means the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. 539 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: These trains claim up through remote wilderness, their own private 540 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: slices of America. It's a view almost no one in 541 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: America gets. But it comes with a cost. From what 542 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: Jonathan described, it's far from idyllic. I'm sure he's going 543 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: to be upset with me when I say that. You 544 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:29,760 Speaker 1: don't stop now on the mountain deer everywhere here, everywhere. 545 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 1: You just turn the lights out and you ring the 546 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: bell and hopefully they get off the track. And nine 547 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 1: times out of tend they get off the track. Jonathan 548 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: had a passenger seat in the rail cab to all 549 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: the destruction created by the train, the way the train 550 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: plows through the world, and no one better get in 551 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: his way. He hasn't become hardened to that, even after 552 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: a decade in this job. I feel sorry for Awesome. 553 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 1: They literally follow the rail and you basically end up 554 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: chasing them down. You're like, come on, man, just just 555 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: get off, get off. But there you've got to stay 556 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:18,000 Speaker 1: in the rail there half the sense of death is 557 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: so present that it's on the mind of everyone who 558 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: comes close to the trains. Jonathan even brought up suicide 559 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: on topic. I wasn't going to mention. So when you 560 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,600 Speaker 1: talk about someone who wants to commit suicide, they just 561 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,160 Speaker 1: stand there and they're looking at you, and you can 562 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: tell they're trying to time it to jump in front 563 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: of you, and most often they are successful. A few 564 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: times they're not successful. The hobos and the railroad workers 565 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: had something in common. They were outsiders who chose to 566 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: live in a world defined by these behemos, these huge 567 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: beasts that shaped our country, and up against that power 568 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: every day, death was always close at hand. If the 569 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: train is going less than ten, I'm gonna hit you 570 00:33:07,200 --> 00:33:11,040 Speaker 1: and I'm gonna drag you underneath all those locomotives and 571 00:33:11,120 --> 00:33:13,080 Speaker 1: you will You will probably die, but you are going 572 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: to feel most of it. So I mean suicide. I 573 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,120 Speaker 1: attempted it, not in front of a train, a long 574 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:25,040 Speaker 1: long time ago, over a stupid thing, and I'm glad 575 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 1: it didn't happen. I do understand that part. You get 576 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: to that point where you're like, there's nothing left for 577 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: me to do. But if they don't understand when they 578 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: throw themselves in front of a train, is that crew 579 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:41,960 Speaker 1: has to see that they're going to You're gonna feel it, 580 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 1: you feel it. I was thinking about the possums and 581 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: I was about Ruby when I realized I knew where 582 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 1: we were. We were near the railroad offices where Robert 583 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:09,400 Speaker 1: Hudson and I stood overlooking the thickest part of the yard. 584 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: Jonathan took us past a little park near the tracks 585 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 1: where he knew hoboes hit out waiting to hop a 586 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:24,239 Speaker 1: train the creek. This is a place where they like 587 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,879 Speaker 1: to stay. You know, cameras aren't going to see interne here, 588 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 1: drones aren't going to see interneth here, and you can 589 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,759 Speaker 1: quickly jump onto a train. That's the party. The park 590 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: had a few trees, an old tanker car covered with graffiti, 591 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,160 Speaker 1: and some drainage ditches where it would be easy to hide. 592 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,239 Speaker 1: So Ruby would have launched from a place like this. 593 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:43,799 Speaker 1: I didn't see a hole in the fence. Maybe there 594 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 1: was a tunnel from there to the trains. What was it? 595 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: A hunter feet It was hard for me to gauge 596 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 1: the distance, but whatever it was, it was too far. 597 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 1: There were trains moving constantly on the tracks, and at 598 00:34:55,400 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: night the yard is dark. That's at nighttime him. There's 599 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,879 Speaker 1: no lights in the receding yard, and there's no big 600 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:05,960 Speaker 1: right light on the back end. It's me with a lanner. 601 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 1: Jonathan told me that when the engineer is shoving his 602 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 1: train through the yard going backwards to the hump, he 603 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: doesn't have time to look for trespassers like that. I'm 604 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: not looking for a for a trespasser because my focus 605 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: is on the rail in front of me. Person tries 606 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,800 Speaker 1: to crawl through in the twentie car of the train, 607 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 1: I'm not going to see that. The engineer is not 608 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:31,399 Speaker 1: going to see it. And now this person is crossing through, 609 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:37,320 Speaker 1: and who knows what might happen. It's pitch black, and 610 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan is focused on his job. He's not paying attention 611 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:43,880 Speaker 1: to anyone trying to cross the tracks. Chances are they 612 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: wouldn't see the train either until it was too late. 613 00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,359 Speaker 1: And while Jonathan understood getting to the point where there 614 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: is nothing left to do, he didn't want to help 615 00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,640 Speaker 1: anyone in their lives that way. But they might force 616 00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:01,319 Speaker 1: him to. And that's why Jonathan told me he didn't 617 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: like hobos. They don't care about us. What I mean 618 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,800 Speaker 1: by us is they'll walk in front of our trains 619 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,400 Speaker 1: and not think anything of it, and they'll blindly climb 620 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,279 Speaker 1: through our train and the next thing you know, they're 621 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: hit by somebody. Despite what he says, when he's in 622 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,279 Speaker 1: a position to help out travelers, he does. A yard 623 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 1: worker warned Jonathan that there were a bunch of hoboes 624 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,799 Speaker 1: on his train, so he went to take a look 625 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 1: and brought them a case of water. I said, look, 626 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: I'm not going to get you in trouble. You just 627 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,399 Speaker 1: need to be quiet, keep your head down. We're going 628 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: to Roseville. I will let you off outside of it. 629 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let you off in the yard. I 630 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,680 Speaker 1: will stop short of the yard at such as heights, 631 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:45,680 Speaker 1: and I will let you off there. I was surprised 632 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,960 Speaker 1: at how moved I was by my time with Jonathan, 633 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,200 Speaker 1: not just being close up with the train getting the 634 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: feel of the yard, but his emotions and his integrity. 635 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,880 Speaker 1: Jonathan had seen the determination of the people in the 636 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,360 Speaker 1: yard who wanted to end it all, and most of 637 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:03,640 Speaker 1: the time, if you died there, no one would know 638 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:05,960 Speaker 1: if you'd decided to kill yourself or if you'd just 639 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 1: left it all up to fate. The Ruby Ditch says 640 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,600 Speaker 1: a graduation. She wanted to live. She wanted a life 641 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:15,880 Speaker 1: that was fully under her control, where she didn't have 642 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: to answer to me or to anyone. But there's a 643 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 1: difference between a rebellious act and a reckless one. After 644 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:24,319 Speaker 1: my trip to Roosevelt, I wondered where Ruby was on 645 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,320 Speaker 1: that spectrum. I didn't know. I didn't know anything about 646 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: her anymore, including where she was. I was in the kitchen, 647 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,320 Speaker 1: staring a big pot of soup and not yet adjusted 648 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 1: to cooking for one when the phone rang. When I 649 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:44,040 Speaker 1: heard Ruby's voice, I went straight to the Ruby reporting 650 00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 1: station I had made at my desk. She was in 651 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 1: a van with a bunch of musicians, traveling over the 652 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: border from California to Oregon. One of her companions in 653 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: the van knew of a place they could crash in 654 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,880 Speaker 1: the San Juan Islands, and that's where they were headed 655 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,400 Speaker 1: to spend a week or more writing songs. On the 656 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,040 Speaker 1: porch of this old house overlooking the water, I was 657 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:06,840 Speaker 1: shutting down notes frantically, trying to get as much information 658 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,839 Speaker 1: as I could about where she was and who she 659 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 1: was with. I was so busy listening for clues, I 660 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 1: didn't think to ask her why she'd left or what 661 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,399 Speaker 1: she'd been thinking. She said she was happy, happier than 662 00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:19,920 Speaker 1: she'd ever been, and she had no plans to come back. 663 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,799 Speaker 1: I shouldn't worry. She was with awesome people and they 664 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: were taking good care of each other. She had to 665 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 1: get off the phone, though. I guess she'd said all 666 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:31,000 Speaker 1: she wanted to say, and she was in charge of 667 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:35,239 Speaker 1: our interactions now. But who was she with and how 668 00:38:35,239 --> 00:38:37,719 Speaker 1: could they take care of her and each other? Did 669 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: any of them have money? Could these new friends keep 670 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,759 Speaker 1: her safe? Could they make her life worth living? And 671 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:49,479 Speaker 1: what was that life like, especially for a young woman? Next, 672 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:51,560 Speaker 1: I find people who tell me how to live life 673 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:53,719 Speaker 1: on the rails. I wanted to come out there and 674 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,680 Speaker 1: see you face to faces. I always think it's better 675 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:58,640 Speaker 1: when you see people face to face. Oh you're gonna 676 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,759 Speaker 1: see and oh, Bette, you rode freight drain. I've seen 677 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:03,960 Speaker 1: a lot of old bats, but not too many women. 678 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,360 Speaker 1: Next episode, I mean train writing legend CC Rider, a 679 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,440 Speaker 1: woman who survived decades on the rails, and I tracked 680 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,720 Speaker 1: down present day writers who can show me their world 681 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:18,320 Speaker 1: there's places on train tracks that you can't go on 682 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: a regular road. You know. I think back, and I'm like, 683 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:23,960 Speaker 1: you can't. I'll never be able to see this again. 684 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 1: High adventure all the time, the grittiness and just living 685 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,839 Speaker 1: in the crack. She opened her mouths and I put 686 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,839 Speaker 1: my fist dimmer throat, And when I was done with her, 687 00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,800 Speaker 1: I told her the only reason I whooped your asses 688 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,080 Speaker 1: to save your life because you would not shut the 689 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 1: fund up. That's next week and coming up this season 690 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:49,440 Speaker 1: on City of the Rails. And he pulls the trigger 691 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:51,880 Speaker 1: and it just goes click click, and then he cocks 692 00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 1: it or gets it right or whatever. And then it 693 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,440 Speaker 1: turned to blah blah blah in the crew change, if 694 00:39:57,520 --> 00:39:59,440 Speaker 1: you read where you get off in the spot it 695 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:04,920 Speaker 1: talks about. And that's was this little magical thing. New 696 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 1: Orleans in the wintertime is the festival of dirty kids, 697 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,399 Speaker 1: the festival of traveler kids. Your daughter probably went back 698 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 1: and forth on this bridge, and I know she didn't 699 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:18,560 Speaker 1: know about all this. There's no way other places that 700 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,160 Speaker 1: you come from, so diversion of of what you considered 701 00:40:22,160 --> 00:40:27,759 Speaker 1: to be utopian life that you would rather exists of 702 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,759 Speaker 1: friends of society, squad. I'm doing stuff like this. It's 703 00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:35,239 Speaker 1: kind of like walking into another dimension, another world. Every 704 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 1: day was different and never knowing what that day was 705 00:40:38,640 --> 00:41:04,239 Speaker 1: going to bring that taste, that feelings as well to 706 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:12,240 Speaker 1: drinking Castle Mal sit on the beach and just turning 707 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: the blue came out with the brand new drug and 708 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 1: that sadded to pull up plug, look what You're done. 709 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,480 Speaker 1: City of the Rails is hosted by Medal Morton and 710 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:35,400 Speaker 1: developed in partnership between Flip Turn Studios and I Heart Podcasts. 711 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,680 Speaker 1: At I Heart, our team is executive producer and showrunner 712 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:43,320 Speaker 1: Julian Weller, senior producer abu Za far and producers Emily Maronoff, 713 00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:47,200 Speaker 1: Shina Ozaki, and Zoey Denkla, with production support from Marci 714 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:51,959 Speaker 1: to Pina. Original music every episode by Aaron Kaufman. Thanks 715 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,839 Speaker 1: to Scott Mishod at Flail Records for our theme music, 716 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:58,680 Speaker 1: Wayfaring Stranger performed by his old hobo band Profane Sass, 717 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:01,600 Speaker 1: and thanks JP Right for the use of his song 718 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,080 Speaker 1: Hobo Life. Our executive producer at Flip Turn is Mark 719 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:07,920 Speaker 1: Healey and I Heart thanks to Nikki e Tor and 720 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:13,480 Speaker 1: Bethan Machalooso. We'll be back next week with lots of hoboes, 721 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:18,080 Speaker 1: young and legendary on City of the Rails because and 722 00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 1: made a lo