Teen Loses Leg To Train

[mojo628]

It always seems like a good idea until someone gets hurt.



http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAM0LS9BND.html

Teen Loses Leg To Train

Published: Nov 22, 2003


TAMPA - A teenager's leg was cut off below the knee after he tried to jump on a passing train, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reported.
Jonathan Paul Plummer, 18, address unknown, told a friend that he was going to jump aboard a train at the CSX crossing near 14205 N. Nebraska Ave., deputies said.

His first attempt was unsuccessful, but on his second try, Plummer grabbed onto the train then fell beneath it, deputies said.

He was in fair condition Friday night at Tampa General Hospital.

[Gregory Wallace]

It always seems like a good idea until someone gets hurt.

When I read that, I shudder at the things my friends and I used to do when we were young.

We lived near the Southern RR railyard in Hattiesburg, MS, and I don't know HOW we're still alive: we'd grab onto slowly moving traincars for short little rides, or we'd roll under cars or climb over the couplers -- even knowing that they could move at any minute. Walking across busy trestles was commonplace, and getting caught in the middle happened several times; you just had to know where to jump.

I guess being 10 or 12 years old gave us a feeling of immortality, and the threat of being called "chicken" just did the rest. But if my great-grandfather -- who worked for Southern at the yard -- had ever seen us, he'd have taken care of our notion of "immortality" in a hurry.