What Happens at the End of Riding the Rails?

Riding the Rails offers a visionary perspective on the presumed romanticism of the road and cautionary legacy of the Great Depression. The filmmakers relay the experiences and painful recollections of these now-elderly survivors of the rails. Forced to travel more by economic necessity than the spirit of adventure, the film's subjects dispel romantic myths of a hobo existence and its corresponding veneer of freedom. Riding the Rails recounts the hoboes' trade secrets for survival and accounts of dank miseries, loneliness, imprisonment, death, and dispossession. Sixty years later, the filmmakers transport their subjects back to the tracks, where the surging impact of sound and movement resuscitates memories of a shattered adolescence and devastating rite of passage.

Lexy Lovell's narrative builds toward a resolution centered on Richard Thomas (Narrator)'s journey. The filmmakers relay the experiences and painful recollections of these now-elderly survivors of the rails.

How Does Richard Thomas (Narrator)'s Story End?

• Richard Thomas: Richard Thomas's storyline wraps up in the final act, though some viewers have found the resolution more ambiguous than expected.

What Does the Ending of Riding the Rails Mean?

Riding the Rails's ending attempts to resolve the major plot threads, though some narrative elements involving Richard Thomas may feel rushed. Lexy Lovell's final act has been both praised for its ambition and criticized for its execution.