Detroit Revisted: The unbeaten path
Fifteen years later, I was back in Detroit. On my first, long ago trip, two weeks before 9/11, I left
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Abdul Rahimov has a Ph.D. in Russian history from Stanford. He studied earlier at Harvard and grew up in Illinois in a railroad-dominated town.Rahimov prefers to use a pen name to avoid attracting unnecessary attention from railroads. He lives on the East Coast when he’s not living in a train.
Author: Abdul Rahimov
Train hopping blues: End of the Modoc Line
This has been a sad summer (2012) of watching the Union Pacific prepare to swallow up the Southern Pacific. Already
Read moreSanta Fe is known for speed
“The Santa Fe has a reputation for speed.” That phrase from a business article rings true. The BNSF habitually attaches
Read moreTeaching a friend
After many years of solo riding, I was bringing along someone else for the first time — a coworker who
Read moreMoffat Tunnel to Great Salt Lake
I’d bought a discounted round-trip Greyhound ticket to Salt Lake, my jumping-off point. I looked through the bus window and saw
Read moreHobo life is a disappearing culture
Bruce came by, with plans that lifted me out of my post-injury depression. After committing sedition for a couple days,
Read moreCascade Range of California and Oregon
In another life I had time to ride freight trains around the West, through thousands of miles of scenery that
Read moreHobo Pride: Hopping trains in the Virginias
After 17 months — too long a time — I was back sticking a thumb in DHS’s eye. In June
Read moreColorado River and the bulls of Denver
For three days in 2003 I had relentlessly pushed a rental car through the splendors of western Colorado, what they
Read moreColorado: Outlaws and blood
After six years, I saw the Colorado outlaw known as TTK again in Fort Collins, Colorado. I’d slept behind a
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