My dad who died last year at 99 traveled this way from time to time chasing the fruit harvest. They called themselves "fruit tramps" and worked all over the West.

Riding the rails was very much illegal and dangerous in many ways. My grandfather, who was a brakeman on the Southern RR in the 1930s, had a co-worker who was killed by a desperate rider who thought he was going to be kicked off the train. After that, Granddad carried a revolver in his overalls (against all company rules, of course) until times got safer after World War II.

I thought this picture captured the image of men in the 1930s. Thanks for posting these awesome pictures. Helped me out a ton.

I didn't get "sadness" from this one, unlike some of the of the other photos . . . . I see a train with no grafitti and a time when you could still ride the rails . . . . I love reading the different perceptions from people, as I said in a prior post, we see what we see.

saddest picture I've seen in along while

No doubt he had many interesting stories to tell his grandchildren.