Last week I shared a stupid but true story from my twenties in the "Drinking, then driving after a gig" thread in the "Bass humor and gig stories" section. When I was young I was always up for an adventure, sometimes they ended up as misadventures. I thought it would be fun to start a thread where we could each tell some of our funnier "oops moments" of the past. My intent is to keep this of the "PG" variety, since we have a wide ranging membership.
I'll go first.
My father was a railroad man, as were three of his brothers. My grandfather was a railroader as well, all of them had worked for the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Rail Road. (P&LE) When I was twelve years old my father explained to me that there was a particular way to hop on or off of a moving train in order to keep from breaking your legs. I paid attention and thought that it was pretty cool.
It was summertime, a couple of weeks after that conversation, a few of my friends and I were hiking through some woods. We came into a clearing where the Baltimore and Ohio cuts through Pittsburgh. We walked along the tracks as a slow moving west bound train passed. I told them that my father had explained to me the correct way to jump on or off of a train. Then I demonstrated it, I jumped on, then off. Then they tried it. We kept doing it again and again and decided that it would be amusing to stay on for a minute or two. Then the train picked up speed...
The train did not slow down until we reached a rail yard in Youngstown Ohio. We hopped off and had to figure out first of all where we were. Then, since it was originally my idea, I had to call my father collect to come rescue us. He did, and gave me a serious chewing out. Eight years later when my father passed away a couple of his friends told me that he actually thought that it was pretty damned funny.
This is just my first story, it happened in 1971. Share some of yours and then I'll share another one.
I'll go first.
My father was a railroad man, as were three of his brothers. My grandfather was a railroader as well, all of them had worked for the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Rail Road. (P&LE) When I was twelve years old my father explained to me that there was a particular way to hop on or off of a moving train in order to keep from breaking your legs. I paid attention and thought that it was pretty cool.
It was summertime, a couple of weeks after that conversation, a few of my friends and I were hiking through some woods. We came into a clearing where the Baltimore and Ohio cuts through Pittsburgh. We walked along the tracks as a slow moving west bound train passed. I told them that my father had explained to me the correct way to jump on or off of a train. Then I demonstrated it, I jumped on, then off. Then they tried it. We kept doing it again and again and decided that it would be amusing to stay on for a minute or two. Then the train picked up speed...
The train did not slow down until we reached a rail yard in Youngstown Ohio. We hopped off and had to figure out first of all where we were. Then, since it was originally my idea, I had to call my father collect to come rescue us. He did, and gave me a serious chewing out. Eight years later when my father passed away a couple of his friends told me that he actually thought that it was pretty damned funny.
This is just my first story, it happened in 1971. Share some of yours and then I'll share another one.
