James W. McClellan saved L. Vincent Murray from being struck by a train, Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 27, 1961. Vincent, 2, and another two-year-old boy wandered onto a railroad track on which a freight train was approaching at 20 m.p.h. McClellan, 54, locomotive engineer, who was in the cab but not at the controls, saw the boys sitting between the rails when the train was 250 feet away. Full emergency braking was applied, causing the locomotive to jerk somewhat. Leaving the cab, McClellan ran along a walkway to a platform at the front of the engine and then descended side steps. The walkway, steps, and other surfaces of the engine were slightly greasy. Holding to guardrails, McClellan swung himself forward and downward onto a footboard. He held to another guardrail with one hand and squatted on the footboard as the engine approached the boys at decreasing speed. Reaching forward and downward, McClellan seized Vincent. He then stood erect and swung Vincent upward onto the platform as the engine passed the point of rescue at about eight m.p.h. and stopped 100 feet beyond. The other boy, who had been beyond McClellan’s reach, lost one leg.
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