The purpose of using personification in the excerpt is to show how

slow and regulated freight train travel can be.
easy it is to secure passage on freight trains.
difficult it is to get a job working on the railroad.
dangerous it is to jump onto a moving freight car.

The purpose of using personification in the excerpt is to show how difficult it is to get a job working on the railroad.

The statement that was personified in the excerpt is "the train ate him up"

The "train" in the statement was used as a noun. Normally a train cannot eat somebody up but an animal can. Hence using a train in that context means it was personified.

The train eating Enrique up according to the passage shows how difficult it is to get a job on the railroad to make ends meet.

Therefore the purpose of using personification in the excerpt is to show how difficult it is to get a job working on the railroad.

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the words "strangest" and "unusual" suggest (: