Jumping on moving trains and
traveling great distances was
exciting. The trick was not to get
injured or caught.
Riding the rails meant jumping
into open boxcars or grabbing the
ladder between the cars as the
train was moving. It was dangerous
and illegal. Teenagers riding the
rails also had to worry about being
caught by train guards, called bulls.
Bulls would force people off the
trains, sometimes at gunpoint. Bulls
would also take whatever money the
riders had on them as payment
for taking the train illegally.
A railroad
worker on top
chases away a
rail rider.
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