Train Hobos

Re “A Trail of Blood on the Rails,” Sept. 17: I would like to say that the overwhelming majority of men and women riding the rails today are kind-hearted free spirits, not bloodthirsty predators.

I arrived in Hollywood in 1975 on a freight train. I’ve been a filmmaker ever since and also continued to be a train barnacle and founder of the National Hobo Assn. It gets in your blood and you can’t stop “catching out,” for two reasons: The magnificent views from thundering trains and, more importantly, the people you meet along the way. All kinds of folks from all walks of life with one thing in common--love of trains and country. There are bad apples in churches, schools, uniforms and unfortunately, train yards. Let’s write about the successful hobos like Pulitzer author James A. Michener, country legend Merle Haggard, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, actor Robert Mitchum and many more.

I could go on, but it’s all in my film, “Compass in the Blood: The American Hobo.”

R.J. HOPKINS

Santa Barbara