hit the grit

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to help to me to make the proper choice of an interpretation of the term in bold in the following sentence?

It was a case of “pay or hit the grit” … Those who did not pay were left behind, unless they were skilful enough to ride the train in spite of all efforts of the train crew to ditch them. (W. Foster, “Pages from a Worker’s Life”)

hit the grit = go on foot, trap it

V.

[Tdol]

A glossary of hobo slang gives the following definition:
hitting the grit - a) walking along tracks b) being forces off a fast moving train (I presume it is a typo and should be forced.
OHNS: A Dictionary of Old Hobo Slang −by Stephen P. Alpert