Travelling at a substantial discount

I've a distant memory of my Dad telling me that he "road the rods" on coal cars a few times while a young man growing up in eastern Kentucky and over in Logan and Mingo counties in West Virginia. I don't think he made a habit of it, but did take advantage of the occasional free ride. I think it stopped once my grandmother found out about it!

He was by no means a hobo like these gentlemen. But I do also seem to recall that it was him who first told me about the hobo code that they used to communicate with each other.