ride the rails
Hop freight trains
Ride the rails means to travel by train, especially by hopping freight cars without paying.
The phrase evokes hobos and drifters of the Depression era who illegally hitched rides on railway cars: He spent a summer riding the rails across the country.
Now sometimes used nostalgically for any train travel.
- ticketEntry permit slip
- vagabondingNomadic, rootless traveling
- shantytownPoor area of crude shelters
- trainRail vehicle or instruct
- passengerTraveler, not operator
track · locomotive · Hooverville · boxcar · hobo · freight · migrant worker · jungle camp · station · Dust Bowl · hard times · down and out · Great Depression · catch out · depot · platform · conductor · ties
ride the railsfly
Two-winged buzzing insect
sail · drive · walk · hitchhike · take to the skies
ride the railssettle down
Become calm or established
put down roots · stay put · stay home · homestead · plant roots
ride, rides, ridden, riding, rider, riders, rail, rails, railed