Ted is a seasoned traveller and fisherman from Baltimore.

I woke up to two or three men standing at the door. I can just see them. The door is almost closed. It’s pitch black. My first thought is, “Have they seen us? Am I in trouble?” All of a sudden, the door closes. I hear them pop it and lock it, turn the wheel, and plug the door. It all happened in seconds. I jumped out of my sleeping bag, ran to the door, and started banging. By the time I got to it, the train had started moving. I went and woke up Matt. I was like, “Dude, we just got locked in here.”

The story starts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The year is 2004. I’m, at the time, 19. I’ve been riding for a few years. A guy was staying at my house who goes by Matteapolis. He found out I had myself a heck of a sweet tooth. This guy was proficient in dumpster diving, always looking in the trash. He tells me, “In Minneapolis, where I live, I went to the dollar store and found all this Easter candy they were throwing away. I took it all. I got bags of it at my house.” So we decided we’re gonna ride trains from Philadelphia to Minneapolis.

The train we got on had a boxcar with a plug door. Nobody had ever said anything about them. I didn’t know not to mess with them. Matt was like, “We just have to jam something in here to make sure the door doesn’t shut, and we’ll be fine.”  So we get in. We didn’t end up jamming the door. We decided we would watch it and make sure it doesn't close. It was night. We got into our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

When the men closed the door, Matt was like, “We’ll just push it back open.” I was like, “No, I watched them close the door and plug it. We’re locked in here.” He got out of his bag and went to the door. He was like, “Oh shit.” We didn’t panic. We didn't go into doom thoughts. We had a little food, we had a little water, and we decided to start rationing it. We decided after that, “We know this train is going to stop and die in Cumberland. There’s nothing we can do, and we’re tired.” So we both just went back to sleep.

I’m thinking about all the stories that train riders told me about how you get locked in the boxcar, and you die. At some point, when it was pitch black, I was worried that we were completely sealed in this thing and there was no air. I asked him if we were gonna run out of air. He was like, “No, we’ll be fine.” We woke up, and the train had stopped. The sun was coming out. Light came through a million cracks in the car. That reassures me that we’re not sealed in here completely.

We started walking the perimeter of the boxcar, banging. I’m banging with the wheels on my skateboard as loud as I can. He’s banging with his Leatherman. We walked around the boxcar until we got tired. Then it got hot enough that we were exhausted. We were baking. The floor was the coldest thing. We took off all of our clothes, besides our underwear, and lay on the floor. He was like, “Let’s just lie here and listen. If we hear the workers pulling the brakes on the train next to us, we’ll start banging.”

We were lying in there and lying there. Then he was like, “Did you hear that? They’re pulling the brakes on the train next to us. Start banging!” So we’re banging and yelling. Then there was a bang that came from the outside. He was like, “Did you do that?” I was like, “I’m standing here in this box car with you. No!” Now we’re yelling, trying to communicate, “We’re locked in this box car!” A man said, “How many of you are in there?” We were like, “There’s two of us. We’re dying locked in here. Let us out!”

He was like, “Do you have any food and water?” We were like, “Yeah, we got a little bit of food and water, but we're dying here. Let us out.” And then nothing. Matt was like, “They’re calling the sheriff. Let’s put our clothes on, pack up our gear, and just sit here and wait for them to open the door.” At the time, I always had weed, so I crushed the can that I was smoking out of and put it in the corner of the boxcar. I ate all the weed that I had, which wasn’t very much. We just sat cross-legged in front of the door. He had his bike, and I had my skateboard, so we’re a couple of hobos with a bunch of stuff.

Sure enough, the door opens, and it is the Sheriff of Cumberland. He was like, “Alright, come on out of there.” They run our names. The workers standing there were like, “You guys are so lucky. We were about to send this train into the hump yard. These boxcars could have sat in there for two weeks without anyone ever being around again. You would have died.” We were like, “Jesus Christ.” The sheriff was just standing there. He’s like, “Well, I feel like you guys have been through enough, so I’m not gonna arrest you. But if I see you on my trains again, I will arrest you.”

We ended up walking into town. These girls pick us up and make us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and show us around town. We ended up catching the Chicago train out of there. In Chicago, we were gonna catch a hot shot to Minneapolis. We get into a rideable car, and we’re good to go. A worker was coming and doing a last check. We saw him and ducked down. My buddy’s like, “I’m gonna talk to this worker.” I was like, “You don’t have to do that.” But he was like, “I like to talk to ‘em.” So he gets out and spooks the guy a little bit. They have a short conversation. The guy’s like, “You guys are good, I’m not gonna say anything.” He keeps walking. Then the train’s just sitting there some more.

We hear some commotion. We look out and it’s the rail police. Two bulls are walking the train, throwing rocks into the well cars, because if they throw the rock and hear the echo, there’s nothing in there. We squeezed ourselves into the corner, but when they threw a rock in, it plinked down, hit me, hit him, hit his bike, and hit the floor. They were like, “Get up, get out.” We stood up and had two guns pointed at us, red dots on our heads. They were like, “Where’s the young boy?” I was like, “I’m the youngest boy here.” I had a beard, though. They’re like, “We got a report that there was a man and a young child on this train. That’s why we came in so hot and heavy.” That worker called in and said there was a man with a young boy on the train. That’s why you don’t talk to workers, folks!

We continue to ride trains. Ultimately, we both make it to Minneapolis separately. Eventually, I got the candy. It just goes to show: A little bit of hard work, a little bit of dedication, and you’ll get your rewards.

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Masthead

Editor-in-chief — Andrew Fedorov

Rails Editor — Connor McFarland

Altitude Editor — Matt Gu

Open Road Editor — Nico Lethbridge

Deputy Rails Editor — Connor Noble