Not A Train-Hopper, Just An Idiot

There was a story early this week about a fellow in Wetaskiwin (near Edmonton, Alberta) who caught a ride on a freight train last Friday morning. He was drunk and had intended to only ride a few blocks and then get off, but the train sped up and he couldn't get off safely. He called the police with his cellphone and eventually CN and CP both stopped southbound trains in different towns for the police to search. He was tracked by the sound of the train horn through his cellphone. He ended up travelling 100 km from Wetaskiwin. He was treated for hypothermia, and has been charged by Canadian Pacific Railway for trespassing.

I didn't intend to comment on this, not wanting to encourage this kind of activity, but now there's another story about this. Some guy named Shawn Kazda talked to the CBC about the hobby of "train hopping", aka the modern hobo. Mr. Kazda said that the fellow was obviously not a train hopper, because a real train hopper would do the research and know where the train was going before climbing on. The article says "Kazda said he knows the rail companies are keeping an eye on him. But he doesn't intend to stop."

One of the CBC commenters on the latter story said it best. "Near-frozen man 'not a train-hopper'. Right, he's not, he's an idiot."

Maybe I'm being too strong here, but I think you would have to be an idiot to consider using a freight train for transit. Never mind that December in Canada is pretty darn cold, it is extremely risky and highly illegal behaviour and I wouldn't consider it for a moment. I also think Mr. Kazda is a fool for talking about it with the media. But that's just my opinion.

PS: you can read about Mr. Kazda here, here (talking to the media again), here, and his Facebook profile here.