ride the rods
(US, slang) To travel illicitly by clinging to the supporting rods under a freight train.
Definitions
(US, slang) To travel illicitly by clinging to the supporting rods under a freight train.
And a dangerous extracurricular activity had helped turn his muscles to iron: he “rode the rods” with other boys, clinging to the underframework of Union Pacific freight cars rumbling through Abilene.
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