Trains and Cars Don’t Mix

On the west side of town, just south of the intersection of our two major U.S. highways, Norfolk Southern has a rail line that crosses all four lanes and the median. They have crossing arms there now, but up until about 10 years ago, the engineer would stop the train and the conductor would get off. He would walk across the highway, placing flares about every 10 feet on both sides of the track. He would wait on the other side of the highway until the train cleared, swing back on, and off they would go. Trains do something called switching at plants which causes them to stop on the tracks for an extended amount of time. They tried not to block the four-lane, but occasionally it could not be avoided.

I was working third shift one night and was assigned to the northwest. A river borders the north side of the city so we have major fog issues from time to time. As the night wore on, a thick fog rolled off the river and blanketed the town. Visibility was about 15 to 20 feet. We had changed over to “one man” units so riding around in that mess made you feel like you were the only human on earth. It was almost a relief when someone made a radio transmission. At least you knew you were not alone. It was a great night for burglars so I was spending my down time rattling doors and checking windows.

A call went out that a train was stopped across the highway and a car had struck it. I was told to approach the accident from the north side. Dispatch sent another car to the south side so no one else would hit it. Shit…lots of paperwork on a call like that. I inched my way across my area down to the tracks. The fog was so thick that I almost hit the train myself before I saw it. They had plenty of flares burning; the light just could not penetrate the fog.

I got out of my car, the fog literally swirling around my door as I opened it. Fog also dampens noise, so it was eerily quiet. I walked over to the rear of the wrecked car expecting to see it crunched into the wheels of a train car. WRONG! The car had been driven up under the train car squarely between the wheels peeling its roof back onto the trunk.

Damn, the driver must have been beheaded! This accident had gone from bad to worse. A wrecker and an ambulance had arrived. The ambulance crew went up under the train and attempted contact with the driver. The car was wedged tight under the train so no one could actually see the passenger compartment of the car. No answer. We all assumed the same thing; the driver was dead and probably beheaded.

The investigator for the railroad showed up and took over the investigation. I helped him with pictures and measurements. The ambulance crew left and told us to call them back when we were ready for transport. The wrecker driver was milling about trying to decide how to get the car out from under the train without causing the train to derail. We had been there a good hour maybe longer when the investigator said it was time to try to move the car.

The wrecker driver and I crawled back under the train, a rather intimidating place to be, and started hooking chains and such to what part of the frame that we could reach. We were filled with dread thinking about the sight we would unveil once we were successful.
We crawled back out and he pulled the chains taut. The car budged a fraction so he stopped. We crawled back under to see what to do next. I was crouched down by the driver’s door and he was on his hands and feet crawling toward the left front wheel.

This voice suddenly proclaimed, “It’s about fucking time! Get me out of here!”

I launched myself straight up, cramming my head squarely into the bottom of the train which sent me crashing back down onto the tracks. The wrecker driver looked like an Olympic high jumper doing a cowboy roll trying to get away from that car, WTF???!!!, both of us screaming like nellie girls from the shock.

All the commotion under the train brought everyone else running. The investigator crawled up next to the door and timidly asked if the driver, a woman we now knew, was injured. I was sitting on a rail rubbing my head to see if it was bleeding and the wrecker driver was laying on his back holding his chest breathing unnaturally hard. We heard her say that she was not hurt but she wanted out of the car.

We put everything into high gear and drug her car out from under that train in record time. As soon as she was clear, the woman sat up and started crawling out of the car unassisted. Except for being pissed for us taking so long and being covered with glass, she was uninjured! She said that she saw the train just seconds before she hit it. She didn’t have time to brake so she pulled her seat lever and just laid back. She said she closed her eyes when her roof sheared off.

We asked her why she did not answer us when we first tried to talk to her. She said that she thought she was dead and it was God talking to her. She said that she was scared to answer because she was not ready to be dead.