PERSONNEL: Back to Work

When Joseph Hardie Young was retired as assistant to the president of Pennsylvania’s Westinghouse Air Brake Co. last winter, he called it “a dirty trick.” Over the years, Joe Young had served no fewer than 22 railway companies, and he felt he still knew his way around. He had been general superintendent of four companies (including the Colorado & Southern and the Southern Pacific) and president of nine (including the Norfolk Southern, the Spokane, Portland & Seattle, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western) . And hadn’t he served Westinghouse faithfully for the past 25 years? True, said the Westinghouse directors, but he was getting on.

Young’s retirement was short-lived. Within days, he opened an office of his own with a sign painted on the door: “Joseph H. Young, Consultant.” Last week, at 88, Joseph H. Young, consultant, got himself another job. Chicago’s Poor & Co. (track equipment) hired him as sales assistant to the chairman. As Salesman Young constantly reminds himself with a placard on his desk: “Youth is not a time of life. It’s a state of mind . . .”