Canadian Catch Out

Since I discovered trainhopping, riding across Canada has been a dream. The untouched nature, the long double-stack container trains, and the vast, remote landscapes seemed incredible. Last September, after saving up for a while, I finally turned that dream into reality, thanks to you guys, and prepared to cross Canada from Montreal all the way to Vancouver. A stretch of roughly 4,800 km. Initially, I planned to go solo, but as it happened, a Canadian rider I’d been following on Instagram was nearby with the same plan. We decided to meet up and ride together.

After I arrived, I spent some time wandering around Montreal, getting a feel for the city’s vibe. It was cool to be in a place I’d only known from movies and videos. Jet lag hit hard, especially since I’d barely slept the night before my early-morning flight. After wandering around in the city and buying some ridiculously overpriced groceries, I headed to the outskirts where Jay, the Canadian rider, was waiting with a girl. She was friendly and fun to hang with, though she didn’t want to be filmed.

We headed to a catch-out spot and waited for our train. A few hours passed, and then, dark silhouettes emerged from the treeline, it was a group of other riders. That’s when it really hit me: trainhopping in Canada was a whole different game than in Europe. There were more riders, and the catch out spots were well established. But they were friendly. We chatted, shared food, and swapped stories. They told us they’d let us catch the train first, since we’d arrived before them. Nine people on one train is just asking to be spotted.

Around midnight, we heard the rumble of an approaching engine and picked up the radio communications between our train and RTC (Rail Traffic Control). It was our train. We split up, found a ride, and climbed on. Finally being on a North American freight train felt special—surreal, almost. The high speed carried us through the night, and after an hour of soaking it in, I crawled into my sleeping bag and drifted off. The adventure has begun.

I hope you'll enjoy!