For Kuntz and others who regularly ride the rails, there is a dark side to the adventure. In 2007, Kuntz watched his girlfriend Ashley Hughes leap from a boxcar and soon after get hit by an Amtrak commuter train. She died in an emergency room in Colton. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
Within weeks of Ashley’s death in the summer of 2007, Kuntz was back riding the rails with his dogs. I would have lost two things that I love that day if I never got back on a train, he said. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
