Wicked Local Melrose - Melrose Free Press, Danvers, MA, 4/17:
THIS OLD TOWN: Railroad grade crossings meant danger
“We’re gonna help that guy off the track if he don’t haul ass pretty quick.”
So spoke the veteran engineer of a 56-car, 2,150-ton freight train as we bore down on a highway crossing at 50 miles per hour.
A longtime friend of mine, the engineer had invited me to ride the locomotive.
A quarter mile dead ahead a trailer truck had stopped across the track. I could see the driver in silhouette as he leaned forward, gazing at us. I imagined him thinking, “Whadda ya know! There’s a train coming!”
Our engineer was reaching for the emergency brake when the truck crawled into the clear. From the cab window I looked down at its tailgate. We missed him by six seconds.
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