Gutted that I have only just started watching this excellent channel this week and to hear about the sad news Hobo Shoestring has passed away so sadly. RiP to you and hope you're riding them rails out there somewhere else we're we go eventually. Been watching video after video hope the channel lives on and doesn't get closed cause people will always watch even if they have seen them already. What a lovely man you were and by what I have already watched your loved by hundreds of thousands of people and your memory will live on. Godbless and I am so glad to have found this gem of a channel. Love all the way from England ♥️
Pork chop rides again has released a bunch of shoestring vids. Watch with the caveat there was some drunkeness, racism , profanity, but he was a man, and as he learned better, he did better.
70 years ago this was a hoppin' place with huge Allegheny 2-6-6-6 engines pulling long coal trains through. Several pictures in my book collection, one of which has that coal tower.
Idk why I sit in my home and dream of being free. Just being anywhere but here, exploring what life has to offer. I truly envy you Mr. Shoestring, stay safe my friend.
The cause of suffering is ultimately rooted in attachment and desire. Suffering doesn't have to be all bad either, using it as a catalyst for awakening gives a whole new light to the roots of what suffering really stirs within us as humans. Think of it this way, if you were face to face with Mark/Shoestring, picture that moment as two mirrors facing each other with nothing in between. You are one another on some levels. Separateness is an illusion and the main reason we feel "we" suffer. Suffering = grace
I just started watching your videos hobo shoe string. You were an amazing man and you told a lot of people about life and now that you’re gone and doing your other good deeds in the universe, I want to say thank you
I came down there yesterday evening to try and maybe run into you, but I reckon you were already gone. I was right there by the rice and grain shed where you had your bedroll and didn't see hide nor hair of you. I knew you were gonna be hit if you needed supplies so I brought down a couple gallons of spring water, a mess of fresh ramps I just picked, a tupperware of homemade pinto beans, and a half a skillet of cornbread. Had a couple extra cans of dip and some toilet paper too, just in case. I was down there about 6pm yesterday evening, so I guess you had already got back on the rails by then. If you ever plan to come through again, I'd love to come thru and say hi and maybe show you some of the lesser known sights. In any case, another great video. So weird seeing it on RU-vid when I was just there. Hope you had a good trip out. Thanks again Shoestring!
I think he mentions in a video a few years ago that he uploads them after he leaves so people can’t walk up on him and the law and RR and stuff. Would be pretty not smart to upload stuff while you were still there.. lot of weirdos out there..
I just saw your post today. I'm looking for a place that accepts Hud Vouchers for rent or for the purchase of a house or cottage. My voucher pays over 900 dollars monthly. My Grandfather was born in West Virginia. His father was French Canadian and worked as a independent sawmill engineer. Who developed cost saving equipment adoptions. I don't know what county he was born in. He told me he was 10 years old in 1910 when he saw Haylies Comet. SO he was born in 1898 or 1899. I just want to do some gardening lamp and furniture repair. I like to work on my own vehicles and sometimes fool around small engines. If you can help thanks. IF not I would like to see some places around your stomping grounds. I'm also got a steady fixed income.
Awesome that you caught Amtrak in the light! Amtrak only makes 3 round trips a week through there and it is usually in the dark. They make flag stops there. I rode Amtrak through there several times. Awesome video!
I'll be thinking of you on May 18th. Best of luck with your op. Hope it goes well. Keep thinking positively son. God be with you. Thanks for another look at Thurmond. Just a visitor centre nowadays but quite a boomtown in its heyday. Long may it remain.
I guess those T shirts didn't sell like he'd hoped. Dammit. That whole segment after he hopped the open boxcar, I could see him standing in that door, smiling into the sun. Ride in peace, Sir. Ride on...
I'm not sure how this got into my videos, but I'm glad it did. I'm now a subscriber, and I enjoy your content immensely. My late father was a railroad foreman, and he worked for Southern Railways, and he was there for the merger with Norfolk in the 80s.
Great video. Those trees 🌳 with thorns are Black Locust. In the early '70s my Brother and I worked for a land management company planting those to reclaim strip mines. Those places back then looked as bare as Mars! It was a shitty 10 hour workday in the middle of nowhere with a Dibble and a bag of sticks carried on the back. Amazing how much they have grown in almost 50 years. I'll bet that land is on an old strip mine!
I'm a lifelong native of the area, and live very close to Thurmond. It's not ever been a strip mine, or any other kind of mine, but it was basically carved out of the mountainside along the river, to serve as a hub for filling train cars with coal mined higher up in the gorge. The town sprang up around the coal industry to support the miners and their families. The town itself sits only about 15 feet about the river. There's a literal TON of information about the town if you're interested. The longest poker game in history was held there back in the day at the old Dun Glen hotel which burned down in 1930. The game ran for 14 years straight.
Hello. I love your movies. I rode a freight train once in my life, about 25 km ... 30 years ago :) I wish you good health and beautiful journeys. Best greetings from Poland.
Because of you and Jaw tooth, I made the trip to Thurmond this past weekend. Enjoyed the area and walked it. Thanks again for your visit and video. Got to see the falls coming into Thurmond from Glen Jean. Praying for you.
Glad you to see you stopped by Thurmond. Not a great place to find a room or a meal, or a date for that matter. But just being free from the city life, hearing the spring time animals, cool mountain air and the sound of the river and the trains would be so relaxing. looking forward to you next video brother!!!!! Stay safe!!
Amazing that folks are still riding the rails... and a damn shame that they don't have open box cars like back in the day. RIP Shoestring... you left a really cool legacy/history for others.
If I had plenty of gear, food, and water, I'd love to hop off there for a few days. Beautiful scenery of the mountains in the background, a nice river close by, and all that untouched nature is what I love most. Thanks for sharing this with us Shoestring! Take care! ✌❤
Thurmond West Virginia. Friend I enjoy the new adventures.. What a perfect place to set up camp. A peaceful quiet city I enjoy it, fresh water I could drink too. WOW excellent. I love to travel, look at that information about my coal miner tower. Well now will you look at that art drawing of a Hypnotizing TV, interesting art work. WOW okay look at that, that is some copper on the track.. Climbing the light tower will be interesting but also you be climbing up to the top so be careful...
I got to tour Thurmond once on an excursion train trip, and also rode Amtrak Cardinal with a historian from the NPS. What impressed me was how there were 13 passenger trains per day it’s heyday!
Watch the movie "Matewan," directed by John Sayles. James Earl Jones is in it. It was filmed in Thurmond, WV. It's about a coal mining incident in the real town of Matewan, WV, but the movie was filmed in and around Thurmond. Several steam engine scenes are in it as well
Used the N&W steam train that used to run public relations trips for NS in that movie. I think the transportation museum in Roanoke owns the 611 now. The huge freight loco is retired I think, but may be incorrect about that. I rode behind it many many times out of Manassas, VA
I believe the Nickel Plate Road # 765 steam engine was the 1987 movie. Please watch it as many of the buildings are now gone. The movie made many of the actors famous. Building corners were used as individual sets for separate scenes. A C & O style cantilever signal stand gained a wooden leg to become a signal bridge.
This video was on my mind when I took The Cardinal from Chicago to Washington DC almost a year ago. I was researching the trip when i stumbled upon this channel. I made sure to see Thurmond, and saw the exact place when Shoestring slept that night. It was a high point of my US trip, and a moment I will remember for a long time. Sleep well Shoestring, sleep well.
@Ode To Hobo thank you for your kind words and support. Just a troll who thinks they are entitled to spew their opinion and no one is allowed to dispute them. I can handle it. No need to get our favorite person involved. Hope you are doing well. Take care and have a blessed Sunday🙂
First of all THANK YOU for your service. Second I am enjoying your videos and adventures. I always wanted to train hop in my younger days but was too chicken to try. Third I wish I could have met you to hear more of your stories and share a meal with you. Fourth I wish I had found your channel sooner. Fifth I’m so sorry to hear about your passing. May you travel the golden rails in heaven and share your adventures with the Lord and his angels. R.I.P. Shoestring My Deepest Condolences to your family and friends.
Shoestring, that’s a great setup with the solar cell and the battery packs! I have one of those battery packs and they are great for keeping your phone going for a long time when outdoors.
Great video! I grew up in Thurmond in the 70's and 80's. Back then it had around 50 people living there. There was a post office with an actual postmaster. Most of the residents lived on the mountain above the bank. Where the truck went, there is an asphalt road up there. The bank was closed down before I was born. I remember it as a diner called the bankers club. There used to be a boarding house farther down the tracks. There was no school there, so we had to drive around 7-10 miles to Glen Jean to go to school. In between the depot & coal feeder there was a shop appropriately named C&O shop to repair engines & stuff for the railway. That caught on fire in the late 80's or early 90's and they tore it down. There was even a tavern down there called River Rat Inn. It was on the other side of the river known as Dunglen which is the site of the famous Dunglen Hotel. There is still like 5 people that live there however. It was a fun place to grow up. Always lots to do as a kid. Lots of great memories down there.
Thanks for the great video Shoestring. I always like the tid-bits of useful information that you share. Like when you roll out, how you prepared the ground like that, or the reminder to always take a little walk around the area, and look back at your spot and see what it looks like. Those are a couple examples of US Army Patrol Base techniques. I think your whole set up is pretty ideal. Nicely done. I also like the information about the rails, and how to “read” them. The color variances, and rust rates you talk about always interests me. Thanks for the adventure!
You have an insane memory! I live in Pensacola at the moment and have been railfanning in Flomaton, Alabama many times. That coal tower is still there, and have always wanted to get up in it. That's so cool that you've been in it, and with the trains going right underneath it that has to be a fun place to hang out. Absolutely love your videos, and keep up the awesome work!
Im an apprentice diesel mechanic and when I qualify in 2 years im gonna take some months off, fly to the US and explore some of these places. Love your videos from australia shoestring.
He stopped in rattle-snake country in this video. I 've been meaning to ask him if he ever saw Bigfoot out there any place by the rails it sure looks like a good place to see a Sasquatch. I saw a big brown one about 55 years ago near a mining camp. I never did forget that encounter.
@@wilE6764 I wish you had been there to tell the Bigfoot that. No they are real creatures whatever they are. If you lived in my area you might understand. I saw the creature in 1965, long before the Patterson film came out. Back than they just called it the hairy-man not having any other names for it. But if I were you I would likely think the same as you. Anyway I wish you were right.
@@armorvestrus4119 What boggles me the most is...is we have these hunters that shoot mountain goats and big horn sheep and whatever big game they go after from almost 1000yds away but never have they been able to shoot or even see one of these sasquatches/ bigfoot?
When you said it seems like you’re talking with all of us.. you are. We’re all listening. I’m so glad I got to meet you in person. I hope to again my friend.
Hey Shoestring that was an awesome video. Glad you got to catch a train and make another video. Take care and have a good one and good luck on your surgery. We’ll be praying for you. 🙏👍👍👍❤️
I remember people leaving a name or initials along with "was here" years ago. I agree and think it was much more commonly done many years ago. I particularly enjoy your showing the super old graffiti. It is thought provoking involving the passage of time in our lives. Thanks
What an awesome adventure, ShoeString. Very interesting place. The river looks so cool under that bridge. I remember Jaw Tooth's video of the area as well. Its amazing how nature is slowly taking over. The view from the tower was nice. Beautiful sights.
Shoestring it's nice to see updates of your videos. The same day video. Shoestring you're spoiling us. Like to ride with you. Hopefully one of these days. Thurmond, keep on freighting.
Good for you bro 😎 seriously you doing what you love and also taking us with you on your adventures bc most of us are to caught up in every day life or to scared or lazy or both and other.. seriously bc I just found your channel not long ago like a day or 2 ago and watched a few videos and after this video I’m hitting the subscribe button 👍🏻
Great video. Like that L&N shirt. When I was little, used to ride the Hummingbird from Nashville to Saint Louis. One time went to ghost town in KY. 1920's building from an abandoned coal mine with old desks and papers intact. Bought a miners lamp discontinued in 1941 from a retired miner for $5!
I was in Bristol, Virginia and half of the town is in Bristol, Tennessee. I did not look thought to see if it is a different County. Great video! Enjoyed it.
Man I've been to nearly every state in the country. I've seen a lot of places and yet Thurmond is one place I think about all the time. I really loved going through Thurmond, really neat piece of history.
I love the videos, Shoestring! Have you ever thought of writing a memoir? I am sure you have many great stories, plus your knowledge of railway history is second to none!
Hey Shoestring, new subscriber here. I had been laid up with the flu so I had nothing to do but look at videos. You mentioned Escambia County, Alabama and Escambia County Florida. I live just east of Escambia County, Florida, 30 miles southeast of Century. I frequent thag area, occasionally taking my seven year old daughter cpimg at Lake Stone in Century, a few miles south and west of the Piggly Wiggly. My co-worker brings his grandkids same age as my daughter. (I'm 50 with a seven year old) There is an Ice cream shop in Flomaton we all go to. Barbecue place in Brewton. You're a good man, you got a lot of sack doing what you do! Take care and be safe on the high iron. Robert Holster, Pace Florida
