Re: [CBQ] the Q & hobos

["Gerald Edgar" <gvlc6@hotmail.com>]

To relate this topic to CB&Q I can add a Q related bit of info.  The "Emperor of the North Pole" was filmed on a tourist RR in Oregon and represents a time when truss-rod equipment was still operated.  Near to where I currently live is Britt, Iowa - home to the annual Hobo Convention (they met there back in very early 1900's and then in 1950's Britt boosters sent an invite to the national hobo group asking to be their permanent site.  They even have a Hobo cemetery section where such notables as Steam Train Maury are buried).  "Real" hobo's are extinct now but yrs ago a few of the ones who rode the rails in 1930's still came by.  (Britt is on old Milw secondary line now operated by CP and had an M&StL branch crossing into the 60's or so)  Visiting with an old hobo in the early "90's, he affirmed what I had heard from old Q employees - Q was less diligent or at least not as violent with hobos as other RR's - i.e. it was a preferred RR to catch a ride on.  They might kick you off but not report you to the local police.  When I was with C&NW in the late 70's/early 80's on rare occasion I would see a seasonal worker aka transient but the day of the hobo's was pretty well gone.  Mty box cars with doors left open were the preferred means to hitch a ride by hobos - those were going fast from railroads with newer boxcars having plug doors and much more zealous RR's re: keep doors closed on empty cars.   Old hobo jungles often existed near RR yards where starting/stopping trains were easier to board/detrain.  In Dubuque where I grew up it was on S side of town on Jt. IC/Milw tracks with an adjacent Mississippi backwater 'pond'.   I understand there was one near Mississippi on the Q in Burlington.   I'm sure other old rails on this list can let you know where other 'jungles' were in the day.  They were also known as "Hoovervilles".   If in Britt, they have a permanent museum (old theater bldg.) and an annual Hobo Festival is THIS w/e! - well worth a stop.  Gerald

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