NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A gem of a Long Island Rail Road conductor on Friday helped reunite a Manhattan jeweler with a set of rings, worth over $107,000, that were left on a train Thursday evening.
According to the LIRR, conductor Jonathan Yellowday found a case containing the lost jewelry in a plastic bag on a train from Penn Station in New York City to Port Washington on Long Island.
The rings belonged to jeweler Ed Eleasian, who took the 6:11 p.m. train from his Manhattan office on Thursday evening and did not realize he had forgotten the tray until he got home.
Conductor Yellowday couldn’t believe what he had discovered and immediately turned the items over to MTA police.
“I got on the next train going back to Penn, turned it in, and the rest is history,” he said.
Eleasian was reunited with the lost rings at the MTA PD District 4 office in Penn Station Friday morning.
There, the jeweler met with LIRR President Phil Eng and conductor Yellowday, who was then presented with a plaque honoring him as a “Hero of the LIRR.”
“Not only did you find and return these 36 rings, but just think about the happiness of 36 couples down the road that will be joined together in happiness, and they’ll have a story to tell,” Eng told the conductor.
He continued: “Thank you for your heroic actions and saving the day for 36 future couples. I understand the value of these diamond rings, but everything found and returned to the customer is immensely important to them. You treated this just as you should have and it’s another proud day for us at the railroad.”
Conductor Yellowday, who has been with the LIRR for seven years, says he has found many lost items in the past, but nothing has come close to the value of this find.
“I could only imagine what you were going through yesterday when you realized that you didn’t have your jewelry,” Yellowday told Eleasian after receiving a heartfelt hug. “You know when you get on the 6:11 you’re in good hands.”
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