A moving train fills the frame of a shaky video. A ladder looms, and hands grip the rungs. A blur of movement, and you're inside an open train car piled with coal, trees whipping by on either side.

A moving train fills the frame of a shaky video. A ladder looms, and hands grip the rungs. A blur of movement, and you’re inside an open train car piled with coal, trees whipping by on either side.

Many a young lad back in my day, including myself, nurtured the “romantic” dream of hitchhiking, hopping freights and working for meals while criss-crossing the country. In the early summer of 1965, ...