One More Train to Ride

Drawn from intimate interviews with 14 modern-day “steel rail nomads,” One More Train to Ride provides a revealing picture of today’s American hobo. Interspersed with their stories are original poems and songs echoing the ancient lyricism and loneliness of life on the road. Their connections with the past make the experiences of these hoboes even more striking, as they ride freight trains and jungle up in hobo camps, light years away from the 21st-century cyberworld—yet touching the very core of American freedom and individualism.

Cliff Williams skillfully elicits details of family background, motives, and clear insights into the daily life and philosophy of the modern hobo. With its evocative link to the past, One More Train to Ride continues a long tradition of books on hobo oral history, including Nels Anderson’s The Hobo (1923) and Thomas Minehan’s Boy and Girl Tramps of America (1934).

Cliff Williams (Oats) has been a “hobo at heart” since 1990, when he attended his first National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa. He chose his hobo moniker because he eats rolled oats with milk and honey for breakfast. In his other life, Williams teaches philosophy at Trinity College in Illinois. He is author of Free Will and Determinism: A Dialogue, which recently went into its ninth printing. He lives in Deerfield, Illinois.