Harold had worked as a construction electrician for nearly 15 years. It wasn’t steady work. He spent more time being laid off from the job than he did working. He read with great interest a help-wanted ad that appeared in the Sunday Louisville Courier-Journal promising steady employment for electricians at the Louisville and Nashville railroad.
Harold applied for the position and sailed through the interview process. A letter arrived in the mail on a Wednesday requesting that he report for work the following Monday. Most of Monday was spent filling out forms and attending training sessions. On Tuesday morning, Harold was assigned to work with Donald, a seasoned electrician who was to show him the ropes.
Donald walked with Harold out to the switch yard and explained that they were going to ride a train out to the next depot where they were going to replace some relays in a track-side control box. Normally Donald would climb up into the cab of the locomotive or ride in the caboose if the train had one but today they were running late and the switch engine had already started to pull the train slowly out of the yard. "Let’s just jump on this flat car", Donald suggested. Running along aside the flat car, Donald threw his left leg up on the ladder and climbed up to the car's wooden deck. The train continued to roll out of the yard at a snail's pace and Harold followed right behind, throwing his left leg up on the bottom rung of the ladder and reaching for a higher rung with his right hand. But instead of grabbing the rung firmly, Donald watched in horror as Harold’s hand slipped off the rung and he fell under the train. Donald jumped from the train and pulled his radio from the clip on his belt and keyed the microphone but instead of the steady red transmit light, the light on the top of radio blinked once and then went out. He had a dead battery! Donald ran back to the electrician’s shanty and yanked one of the radios from the charger stand. He looked out the door of the shanty towards the track and could see that the train had already pulled out of the yard.
Donald ran out the door and ran as fast as he could towards the spot where Harold had fallen. As he approached the track he saw Harold flat on his back between the rails with his eyes wide open. Donald looked for signs of injury and remained hopeful. Because the locomotive was moving away from Harold, there had been plenty of clearance under the train as long as Harold had kept away from the wheels and managed not to get smacked by one of the low hanging air brake hoses that ran between the cars.
Donald gently took Harold by the shoulders and asked him if he had any injuries. Harold didn’t respond; he just kept staring straight up into the sky. As Donald reached for his radio to call an ambulance, Harold seemed to make a rapid recovery. Harold went home early that day and never returned to work at the railroad.
