An amusing story from my small town in the 1950’s..
The railroad ran along the main street through the town, and occasionally a train would stop to pick up or drop off freight cars at the grain elevator. Moe was the owner of the local greasy spoon restaurant, and they had run an intercom to Ray’s, the local bar. One rather warm Saturday Moe and his wife had been arguing, so he went over to Ray’s, teen take a few minutes before the expected afternoon rush.
The customers came into the restaurant, and Moe’s wife started getting slammed. After about a half hour, she got on the intercom and asked Ray to send Moe back, because she was getting swamped. Moe must have been feeling harassed. He was sitting there, all of his pocket change on the bar, and he told Ray, “I’ll show her! I’m gonna hop that freight train over there!”
Sure enough, he walked over to an open boxcar climbed in, and waved toward the restaurant as the train pulled out.
His intention was to ride down the tracks about a mile and hop off, but the train picked up speed too quickly, and he couldn’t hop off until he got to the next town, about 30 miles away! Once there, he didn’t even have a dime for a phone call! So he had to hitchhike back!