Freight riding / stealth camping tips and tricks, PART 1.

I’ve been riding freight trains off and on since 2001. Some folks have asked for content related to this topic, so here’s my first long format video with some discussion of things I’ve learned over the years.
#trainhopping #freighthopping #stealthcamping #hobos #tactical #bugoutbag #survival

[@hyperintelligentfish3873]

My first introduction to Train Hopping on youtube the series put out by Stobe the Hobo many years ago. Your comments about never riding while drinking really hit home. He never put out a video where it WASN'T drinking on the train, and now that he's gone I wonder if the alcohol finally caught up to him in Baltimore.

[@ihopcsx]

You should make a book. I'd buy it.

[@ihopcsx]

I can damn well tell you've put the miles in.

[@flameworkclerk]

Think you should keep these vids up man,your educated and you get to the point, I don't even do this and I was pretty interested in hearing what you have to say.

[@mhw4658]

Same with me

[@pattyqubensis8222]

​@@mhw4658 shut up you

[@richardmcfarland4448]

@@mhw4658 I also

[@leei94]

your packs are brilliant and your work is immaculate bro much love for all the little hacks and common sense for the dummies out there

[@PitchBlackForge]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@christianpedersen9531]

So many great tips with countless applications. The tennis/foam ball & stick combo for pitching a tarp is genuinely brilliant and will forever be part of the go-to-ground contingency for my hammock camping set up. Please make more content like this! Would love to hear more about knots/rigging for tarps, etc.

[@PitchBlackForge]

Thanks for the feedback, Christian

[@behindthespotlight7983]

24:34 bro you’ve more than earned my sub 👍🏼 It’s nice to see some real deal competence back on this dying platform. Me n you could stay up til sunrise swapping trail/ road living hacks -with carrying a mesh bag don’t forget with a tent stake and a piece of para: find a stream and voila! instant mini fridge!

[@ericcook8422]

Very valuable information to know. Personally I only caught a train a couple times. The hopes were to hop it for a few miles and get off. I didn't realize how fast a train goes. No hopping off. Thanks for your video.

[@behindthespotlight7983]

27:30 men are divided into 2 camps: those who know and use the truckers hitch daily/weekly and those who can’t tie a knot so they tie a lot. And still make unsafe wonky loads. Another great hack is around 6 feet of 550 para cord, barrel braided with climbing biners on both ends. Once you have the braided tether built is stays that way. It serves everything from emergency belt to dog leash to lifeline (as you described) When a friend first gave me one it seemed kinda precious but I dutifully carried it and after a few emergency applications it’s earned a permanent place in my cordage bag (where a water bottle pouch was) PS: if the barrel braid ever had to be unwound for raw cordage it offers just under 30 feet so it’s a great compact tool that’s got more utility than a 30 foot Ranger hank does.

[@behindthespotlight7983]

14:45 carry your reusable tote in an Rx bottle 🚨Personal alarm🚨 A larger Rx bottle will hold 3-4 jingle bells and a hank of kevlar cordage. Weight is negligible and by using the Rx bottle it deadens the jingling until you’re ready to deploy a trip line with bells attached. Pre rig the jingle bells with a few inches of wire for quick affixing. If you don’t have kevlar string a strand of guts from 550 para works too

[@Trainman46]

I’ve just discovered your channel and I’m glad I have before I embark on a countrywide trip. The main thing I’ve noticed that I don’t already do is the multiple bags for different stuff/ waterproofing/ drying out. Pretty tactical. I’ll have to look into that.

[@mhw4658]

I would like to hear about the knots 🙂

[@justinturley6631]

Hey just wanted to say to keep up the videos! They're brilliant! I've watched countless survival, train hopping, and diy videos from others and I gotta say that your videos are by far the best ideas I've seen yet. Never yet has any of the others demonstrated the experience learned, the common sense, or the down right brilliant ideas that you have. Your the kind of person that I'd love to hang with for a little while. You just can't learn a damn thing from dumb people lol. Much respect.

[@TerraExplorations]

Very well done, and I hope there will be more ! this is the half of freight hopping that folks overlook when they watch (with much respect, and I love them all) other videos. How to stay safe and comfortable #1 !

[@cimarronwoo]

Appreciate the Sam Gamgee reference. Safe travels.

[@bluewhaleadventures152]

Non stop information. Thanks for sharing your very well reasoned details.

[@geico1975]

The washers and super glue is a fantastic idea and not just for train running:)

[@smellybingo]

Instead of bringing a ball, I just use a balled up sock on top of my tarp-pole stick if i need to protect my tarp from it.

[@PitchBlackForge]

But you can’t bounce your sock against a boxcar wall to amuse yourself

[@mikemike0000]

Couldn't find the camo bandana? I wonder why?! 😂 Just found your channel. New sub, great content! As a knife enthusiast, I'm off to check out your wares! Have an ESEE 3 and an Izula 2 for fixed blades, but always looking for something new!

[@Farkus2000]

A few of these tips I wish I would’ve known when I first started riding!

[@behindthespotlight7983]

21:39 THE difference between a negligible level of irritation versus a manic freak out where you’re ready to pull the plug. Not only mosquitoes but on the West Coast the damn midges and fruit flies. I’ve watched a buddy suffer. Swatting ceaselessly while midges drink from his tear ducts or go spelunking into an ear. Meanwhile I’m chillin under my boonie hat and a$6 Coughlan’s mosquito net. EVERY kit I build has one. Larger kits I throw a mercy backup in too

[@misanthropic168]

Power banks wrap in duct tape. Like bear spray. Makes it droppable or throwable

[@misanthropic168]

If night rider wrap in yellow or orange. For easy find later

[@misanthropic168]

Thanks. Don't stop sharing. If we die alone the legacy dies. Cheers.

[@charlieharris9274]

I got a racquetball. Great fucking idea. I don’t know how you kept yours from splitting, every time I would try to put a hole in one the rubber would split all the way around it. Maybe they were too cheap. I wrapped shit out of it with 100 mile an hour tape, it works like a charm now. Thanks for the idea.

[@trombonetortoise3406]

Thank you for this video series, these tips are golden! May the train gods always be nice to you! Best of luck!

[@Sam-lr9oi]

when you broke out the harness lol I think I will spend the couple extra hours/days in a ditch by the tracks thank you very much. that's incredibly hardcore though, you clearly know your stuff inside and out.

[@knockoutmaniac]

Great videos sir. I love this whole series. Keep those videos coming please 😁

[@chrismackay8314]

Thanks for sharing all of the great tips.

[@7red27]

Thank you for this ❤

[@eldiablo1221]

Give us a knot video when you can, Ben. Safe travels.

[@dont138]

Dude! Great content! Some really good tips on there as well. I’ve never been on a train but I do some stealth camping. Always a good time! White Clay Creek in Delaware is my shit. I’ve snuck away in there for overnighters many times.

[@PitchBlackForge]

Thanks Pat . For a second I didn’t realize it was you.

[@dont138]

Yeah man! You Mickey and Me should head out one night. It’d be a great time.

[@GrantTravels23]

Dog shot bag is genius 😆

[@ihopcsx]

the beautiful backdrop made this epic

[@ihopcsx]

vinegar jug with a beaner is rail tested for water

[@ihopcsx]

they are usually heavy plastic with small top to catch before full empty

[@hobeone1192]

Forgot to mention Cornstarch. Cornstarch works for footrot, swampazz, and wet clothes/gear, literally smother you clothes in Cornstarch if it gets wet, food grade Cornstarch is cheap, get a LOT of it...

[@pqtpat7734]

This is tight. Subbed

[@wildbillbjj]

Great Info!!!

[@behindthespotlight7983]

7:57 you have my attention 👍🏼

[@vectorexpanse]

I actually got a one person trekking pole tent, no tent poles to worry about, just use a stick or overhead line to hold it up, it's also OD green.

[@PitchBlackForge]

I’ve seen those. They’re really nice. My gear has definitely improved over the years, but I’ve yet to grab one of those.

[@ldsklShes]

Great info.

[@garybrown585]

Thank you 👍❤😊

[@Kree901]

Im newly subbed, great vids brotha🤖🤖🤖

[@psynriter]

Come across your channel. I like your tips for stealth camping and train hopping. I don't think the railway subculture is really here in Australia. I don't know why, maybe lack of lots of cross-country railways unlike what you got over there. Train yards are razor wired fenced moreso. I climbed a sided grainer over here and there is lack of places to hunker down at A and B ends. It's sorta on my bucket list to ride a freight train even at the age of 54. Dudes like you and Shoestring Hobo I find inspiration. It's good to be a fringe dweller at heart.. great videos mate... Subscribed 👍p.s I don't profess to be someone of rail knowledge but I've walked some rails on my channel. Have a look at our Catch Points where runaways are turfed off the track.. looks stuff of yesteryear compared to the device they fix on track over your part of the globe..

[@kenczerwinski6365]

I worked for BNSF, I believe train hopping is easier than realized.

[@PitchBlackForge]

It ain’t rocket surgery. Takes a while to figure out how it all works, but if you’ve got some sense you can sort it out.

[@yeetergriffen]

Thank you

[@moncorp1]

and I thought I was the only one who used the nightime hat bucket. as for sleeping under a tarp or tent at night like you mentioned, I do it. I've spent decades sleeping out under the stars and more than 50% of the time a critter will come to me in the night. Even in tents. You'll hear them scratching around outside. until they get a quick swat from inside that is. Every kind of critter imaginable. snakes, chipmunks, raccons, possums, and even had more than one armadillo in Texas rooting around me at night. don't even startle me that much anymore. I just expect it.

[@Chezblarger]

Just found you. Love the video. Very informative

[@PitchBlackForge]

Glad to hear it. There are a bunch more of these, and I’ll be posting some footage from the rails in about a month.

[@kiokayx]

very informative

[@ihopcsx]

The dog shit bag trick is genius. Never occurred to me

[@ihopcsx]

if traveling out west desert territory carry a handcuff key with the double lock thing sticking out the back. you may become a victim of human trafficking or hostage

[@trains2057]

Ruh..I was wondering why I needed cuff keys all day and sure as shit you provided an answer .

[@charlieharris9274]

Good shit. New sub.

[@ndroidrage]

Make a knot crash course

[@yiggityyuh3966]

Great video. Lots of very useful info. What’s your wristwatch choice that never lets you down?

[@PitchBlackForge]

I wear an analog Timex Expedition, and moved to a silicone band. Affordable. Durable. No bells and whistles.

[@user-ym6ul3hw6y]

Idk who you are bro but this is great

[@PitchBlackForge]

Thank you. Plenty more of this here, and more to come.

[@kickcanlurky7147]

Great-advice--and-video-my-friend-im-in-Manchester-U.K.-ex-Military------im-gonna-pass-ur-info-far-and-wide-----much-respect--

[@Sammydx1]

Very informative. I'm a LEO who just got assigned to a sector that includes a huge rail yard. Technically not my jurisdiction, but I see guys coming and going in and out catching trains. It's nice to have some quality information

[@PitchBlackForge]

If I can help people be unobtrusive, for their own safety, and also to not bother John Q Citizen, that’s a win for everybody. Also less paperwork for you. And you never know when you might need some homeless-level survival skills.

[@mynameislenny2441]

Maybe carry a Pak-Lite. 9v battery with removable LEDs. 9v battery and some steel wool doubles as a fire starter.

[@PitchBlackForge]

That’s a nice piece of kit - never seen it before. Thank you.

[@adrianramone-ey9hi]

I like the patch with the secret compartment were can I buy one

[@PitchBlackForge]

Check out manifestoradiopodcast on IG

[@misanthropic168]

Bank line is a good carry

[@davet.3587]

Awesome save your life lessons 👌

[@Rothbardy]

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing. What about firearms?

[@PitchBlackForge]

Not recommended. You’re already breaking one law. I carry a concealed knife everywhere, but it’s easy to transition from concealed to visible outside the belt line, and therefore legal in most places. Situational awareness is your best bet. Avoiding situations where a firearm would be necessary, evading when confronted, etc. A knife and a bit of training (grappling and combatives) is my last resort.

[@markhobbs1143]

2ould a sailors not work?

[@nunyadambidniss]

Ever carried a tent or tarp/bug screen ?

[@PitchBlackForge]

I carried a tent for years. At this point I rarely do. My favorite was the Snugpak ionosphere, because it’s so low profile. I’ve never had a separate, full-body big screen.

[@eldiablo1221]

Can you show us the shitty car Paracord lobster claws as you'd wear them?

[@adrianramone-ey9hi]

Have you ever rode in dpu

[@PitchBlackForge]

It’s frowned upon, but I’ve gotten in them when the weather was really bad. They used to never be locked. With some railroads (FNBS especially) you’re definitely in trouble if caught. I haven’t ridden a DPU in years, but I don’t ride as much in the winter anymore.

[@markhobbs1143]

Sorry, I would a sailors not work?

[@rxramblingrose4857]

people that carry multiple items are people who are prepared FULL TIME not weekend hoppers that carry a small day pack lol and hop trains here and there just saying i been hoping freight since i was young myself caught my first grainer when i was about 6 or 7 this is a comment reffering to having 5 flashlights lol but truth is many freight riders might choose a headlamp as ya can just let it hang around your neck right then just pull it kinda like KISS or keep it simple stupid anyways i been riding since the 80s im 49 be safe i still have 6 more of your videos to check out lol but hey any tip is a good tip right

[@PitchBlackForge]

5 flashlights sometimes isn’t hyperbole. I believe in redundancy, but you’re better off with one really good flashlight (or headlamp) and one backup. As someone who has travelled full time, weight and pack size are a real issue. I carry some stuff that’s heavier than the most ultralight options, because of durability. But there’s a real tendency for people to just accumulate gear. A lot of it is unnecessary. I’d rather have two more pairs of socks than one more gas station flashlight