the old Burlington Northern "Hi-Line." It goes from Chicago (we used Cicero's yard, back then) to Aurora, to BX Crossing, to the UP x-ing at Rochelle, to Oregon, ILL, to Savanna, near Dubuque, IA on the east side of the river, to Cassville, Prairie du Chien, to Ferryville, to Genoa, to La Crosse (connection to Canadian Pacific headed east to Milwaukee) then East Winona, Alma, Stockholm, Bay City and then to East Minneapolis. Then across the Mississippi to Minneapolis itself, and then, through Minneapolis' Northtown Yard, to Elk River, St. Cloud, Royalton, Little Falls, and Staples, MN. Staples is a major tramp junction town. (The tracks that go east go to Duluth.)
Next, to Wadena, Perham, Detroit Lakes, and to Fargo, ND, another major junction town.
At Fargo, ND, it goes northwest, to Vance, Nolan, Hannaford, New Rockford, Selz, Guthrie, and Minot. (Old tramp joke: "Why not Minot? Freezin's the reason!") to Berthold, Stanley, Tioga, Ray, Epping, Williston, Trenton, and to Snowden, MT.
In Montana, it goes through Bainville, Culbertson, Oswego, Hinsdale, Saco, Malta, Dodsob, Harlem, Chinook, Havre (another major tramp town,) Hingham, Chester, Shelby (big junction,) Cut Bank, Browning, Summit, Columbia Falls, Olney, Stryker, Libby (birthplace of the FTRA, 1988) and Troy, and on into Crossport, ID.
Then to Bonner's Ferry, Colburn, Sandpoint (a major tramp town), Athol, and to Spokane, WA (arguably the Center of the Universe for tramps and hobos.)
From Spokane, WA, there are two routes. One goes west to Odessa, Statford, Ephrata, Trinidad, Wenatchee, Cashmere, Leavenworth, Skyhomish, Snohomish, and to Everett, WA. Seattle is about 35 miles south of Everett.
The other (the "Old Hi-Line" or "Original Hi-Line") goes south through Marshall, Cheney, Ritzville, Connell, Pasco (a big tramp town--lots of missions) then across to the "North Bank" of the Columbia River, through Paterson, Roosevelt, Wishram (another big tramp town,) Lyle, Stevenson, Washougal, Vancouver, WA, then across the Columbia to Portland, OR. This is called riding "down the river."
There was a time when many tramps rode the Hi-Line back and forth, wintering in Minneapolis or Chicago, or somewhere down South, then catching out in the spring or summer for agricultural work in the Pacific northwest. I picked apples myself, a few times, in the late summer/early fall.
Today, the larger railroad yards in these major cities are very inhospitable to tramps. One must be careful and skilled to catch out of yards in Chicago or Minneapolis.