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Not sure if this one goes in this forum, or the Yard, but figured I'd post it here since it is train related. Did anybody happen to catch 60 Minutes II the other night? It might have been Tuesday or Wednesady, I can't remember. My wife was watching, but I missed the full story so I may not give an accurate account. Apparently it was related to poor people in Mexico who are having trouble making ends meet and therefore are engaging in all sorts of risky behavior. One of the behaviors was train hopping, apparently as a cheap means of transportation. The news crew filmed kids and adults hopping onto the train and showed how easy it was to do so. Dan Rather went a step further to demonstrate this by grabbing onto the handrails of a box car and riding the car for a few feet, saying something to the effect of, "You can see how easy it is to grab on here and ride at this speed." What the heck is this all about??
I didn't see this article either, but this mode of transportation is quite common in poor countries. Even on passenger trains, non-paying people hang on the ouitside, or the lucky ones get on the roof.Cheers; Chuck F.