Before the road, there were the rails.

This work is for anyone who has studied an open boxcar and wondered what it would be like to hop inside.

Written at the turn of the twentieth century by Leon Ray Livingston, known to railroad men and roadside camps as A-No. 1, The Ways of the Hobo is a firsthand account of an America before smartphones and influencers. In these linked stories, every mile is a new identity, and every yard bull is a fresh kind of trouble. A-No. 1 wrote and self-published this book (as part of a series) as a working primer on hobo life: the chalk marks scratched on fence posts, the codes traded between tramps, the etiquette of the jungle camp, and the hard-won wisdom of a man who rode the rails for decades.

The Ways of the Hobo is essential for railroad enthusiasts, fans of vagabond artifacts and turn-of-the-century Americana, and anyone drawn to the lost art of riding the rails.