"Box Car" bounty...?

[Big_Daddy]

I thought maybe someone on here may find this interesting.....
These were recovered from a single box car that was being decommissioned in California 20+ years ago.
These were found behind the wall of the box car.
Interesting that they all have holes drilled in the grips for the string to go through.
They were then apparently hung behind the wall for later retrieval as needed.
When the strings rotted away, they fell behind the wall and became unrecoverable.

I was offered them, after they were "checked out and cleared" by the California LE's.

Some interesting pieces for sure.
Imagine the stories that these could tell.

 

[epags1]

I thought maybe someone on here may find this interesting.....
These were recovered from a single box car that was being decommissioned in California 20+ years ago.
These were found behind the wall of the box car.
Interesting that they all have holes drilled in the grips for the string to go through.
They were then apparently hung behind the wall for later retrieval as needed.
When the strings rotted away, they fell behind the wall and became unrecoverable.

I was offered them, after they were "checked out and cleared" by the California LE's.

Some interesting pieces for sure.
Imagine the stories that these could tell.

So did you buy them? We all asked.

 

[Big_Daddy]

So did you buy them? We all asked.

Yes I did....$150 as wall hangers and that is were they have been for 20+ years,

 

[Downhill]

Cool find. I wonder what the story is about them.

 

[Big_Daddy]

Cool find. I wonder what the story is about them.

After talking with some very old timers years ago, they said that the "hobos" would stash weapons this way for when they were needed by someone.
They would reach back and find the string and retrieve the gun.
Once they were done with whatever they needed to do, they were hung back behind a wall.

Pretty cool stuff.

 

[1911nut]

What’s the one on the bottom left? I’d like to shoot that one!

 

[Bc'z]

After talking with some very old timers years ago, they said that the "hobos" would stash weapons this way for when they were needed by someone.
They would reach back and find the string and retrieve the gun.
Once they were done with whatever they needed to do, they were hung back behind a wall.

Pretty cool stuff.

Ahhh the stories those hobos could tell, along with all those shooters

 

[Big_Daddy]

What’s the one on the bottom left? I’d like to shoot that one!

It is a British Bulldog

 

[jpjulian]

That big top-break and the Colt look interesting also.

 

[Big_Daddy]

That big top-break and the Colt look interesting also.

The Colt has a slight bulge in the barrel...

 

[Bill K]

It would be very interest to hear what they could tell, if they could do so, for sure.

 

[ebb]

You would have thought after the first string rotted out, they would have switched to a copper wire.

 

[bluealtered]

As a small child we all played in old box cars, ... all that history sitting right next to us!

 

[jdh47]

True story. I attended a machine shop auction in Dallas several years ago and bought a few things. There was a heavy old desk that sold to a guy for $10. We were loading up and the guy was looking his desk over and found a mint S&W 38 in a holster taped under the middle drawer. Some of us wanted to weep.

 

[ISS]

We had a "Hobo Jungle" about half a mile south of our farm in the 1960's. Those guys would walk up to the house and ask my folks if they had some work a man could do for vegetables out of our garden. My Father always had some tasks available for veggies and a sack of Bull Durham. I had my Father's 22lr and I head shot Groundhogs for them for the stew. They were very grateful for that. None of them ever stole anything. Occasionally one of them asked to borrow the axe to cut downed trees in the cottonwoods that line over a mile of track.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Much different hobo crowd working the box cars in California, they like USPS,FedEx and UPS.

 

[jds holler]

I grew up hunting and fishing around the train yards which were about a mile from our house. Depending on the time of year, the hobos (we called them bums) were present in pretty good numbers. There were a couple who had shacks, and spent the entire year there. We got to know them pretty well, but Dad told me to always keep my distance, and never let one of them touch my gun.

That was a different time, and the bums were a different bunch. These days, they stay closer to town and the stores and dumpsters. I imagine that in a warmer climate than ours, there would be a lot more of them.

There have probably always been some really bad dudes among those guys, but I'd bet it's way worse these days.

Those pistolas are pretty cool, but the hobo story might be a little off. Generally if two different hobos know about something -- it will be gone, and they'll be blaming each other. I can't imagine that many being and staying stashed for long. The story must be a good one. Thanks for sharing it. jd

 

[Fast14riot]

Much different hobo crowd working the box cars in California, they like USPS,FedEx and UPS.

They get the containers fresh from the ports, well before it gets into the hands of a final mile carrier.

Living 200 yards from a major hospital in a bigger city, I have had a few run-ins with "transients" in/on my property and I've been in this house for only 7 years. My city (Stockton, CA) is a major hub for homeless. I've personally encountered only 3 that considered themselves and behaved as hobos, most are unfortunately in poor mental health and unable or willing to do whats needed to get help.

Shared a pint of rum with a guy named Roger one cool October night around 2013 as I walked home from work about 9:15 at night. Former military, though he did say he had a less than honorable discharge. First Gulf War era. Traveled back and forth between San Diego and Sacramento on freight trains throughout the year. Actually considered himself a hobo, making due with what he could find, didn't beg for money and just kept traveling. I gave him the rest of the rum and a 1/4 pack of camels i had on me. He never asked for money. Just enjoyed a normal conversation and some rum for a mile and a half until I had to head a different direction.

 

[bluealtered]

One of my playgrounds was the S.P. yard in Richmond Ca. in the mid 50's. it was where they would repair or refurbish the Vista liner cars, we would climb up into that dome and think about going anywhere. As I got older we would travel everywhere in or on top of those box cars. Of course, box cars at that time still had running boards on them.

I had a friend that rode a box car over to San Francisco on the ferry once, the bad news was that he couldn't get another ride back until the next day! When he got home he got a spanking that had him standing up in class for two days because his backside hurt too much to dare sit down.

Of course, in those days you could still correct your children without ruining them for life. It was amazing what a simple spanking could do back then, sure glad it never happened to me!

 

[hpshooter]

Had a great uncle who owned land that the C&O rail road passed through. The land had a "backwater" on it and a small hobo jungle. My cousin and I were forbidden to go around the jungle but allowed to go to other areas of the backwater. 7 year old boys in 1954 were born explores. that summer we learned how to catch spawning carp by stunning them with a heavy stick as they swam on the surface, catch snapping turtles by pulling them out of their dens in the banks (they always go in head first or so we were told.) strain Sterno through a slice of white bread "to make it safe to drink" and how to hop a moving freight train as it came out of the yards. The only one of these valuable life skills I every used on occasion was hopping a freight to get to a swimming hole on the river on the other side of town where the train had to slow back down as it went through a tunnel..

Never had any problems with thefts at the great uncles place. In the summer he would share his garden bounty with the hobos and year'round my cousin and I would pop squirrels, rabbits and an occasional duck
for their stew-pot.

Great uncle and the cousin are gone now, the land was sold years ago and a church is built on the dry high grounds. Most of the backwater still exist. Have been gone from that area since 1965 but I will bet that some of the descendants of the hobos are living a similar lifestyle somewhere.