Railroad Semantics 2

Official selection for Best American Travel Writing 2012 edited by William Vollmann (Houghton Mifflin)

Devoted to train hopping and train culture, this firsthand account of a risk-taking traveler describes the sights, sounds, successes, and defeats of riding the rails without a ticket. From exhausting waits in sparse canyons to breezy sunny rides, this volume covers the author’s summer riding freight trains between Portland and Northern California. The author glorifies train hopping and expounds on his grand adventures, but also provides some interesting local articles about the railroads, on topics such as shipping trash to landfills by train, Junction City's lawsuit against the rail company, and a landslide. Full of unique photographs documenting the author’s railroad journeys, this real-life narrative of a self-styled hobo exudes the feel of adventure and allows readers to explore the world of freight train travel vicariously though him.

Aaron Dactyl is an adventurer, railroad hobo, and train enthusiast. He regularly travels by hopping trains and is the author of Railroad Semantics #1. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.