NEW SCOTLAND -- After their sport utility vehicle was hit by one train, smashing the front end and jamming the doors shut, a 38-year-old-man grabbed his daughters as second freight train bore down on them.
Later Peter Salerno would credit divine inspiration for his reaction. All three escaped with scrapes and bruises.
"I just credit God Almighty himself with telling me to grab the girls," Peter Salerno said. "After the second train hit, I looked back at where Sydney was sitting and it was just gone."
Salerno and Sydney, 8, were taking 11-year-old Kelly from their suburban Albany home to cheer at a football game Saturday morning.
Salerno approached the train crossing in New Scotland, atop a hill about 200 feet from his driveway, and saw a distant, slow-moving freight on the first track. He heard no whistles, crossed and looked for another train on the westbound track, he said. "I looked and looked again and didn't see anything. When I got onto the tracks I looked and he was right there."
The westbound train hit the SUV on the front end, spinning the 2001 Land Rover Discovery back onto the first track. The SUV's front end was gone and none of the doors would open. The first freight kept coming.
"I said, "Girls, I am so sorry, but we're going to be hit again." He estimated they had about 20 seconds. The broad-shouldered National Grid employee grabbed one girl in each arm, pulling them into the driver's seat. "I tried to shield them and then just hugged the driver side door," he said.
All said at first it seemed quiet. Kelly saw the train engine block out everything else. Then there was the sound of glass shattering, the squealing of the train's brakes. The car was pushed off the tracks.
"Where the back seat was just looked like an archway, so we crawled out," Salerno said.
The front passenger side door was pushed into the seat where Kelly had been sitting.
Salerno's other children, Adam, 13, and Emily, 12, heard the crash and ran out of the house. Adam called 911. He said he thought they were dead.
"I have never seen anyone walk away from something like this," Albany County Sheriff James Campbell said. He notified the National Transportation Safety Board.
CSX spokesman Garrick Francis said the company would also investigate.
"I just credit God Almighty himself with telling me to grab the girls," Peter Salerno said. "After the second train hit, I looked back at where Sydney was sitting and it was just gone."
Salerno and Sydney, 8, were taking 11-year-old Kelly from their suburban Albany home to cheer at a football game Saturday morning.
Salerno approached the train crossing in New Scotland, atop a hill about 200 feet from his driveway, and saw a distant, slow-moving freight on the first track. He heard no whistles, crossed and looked for another train on the westbound track, he said. "I looked and looked again and didn't see anything. When I got onto the tracks I looked and he was right there."
The westbound train hit the SUV on the front end, spinning the 2001 Land Rover Discovery back onto the first track. The SUV's front end was gone and none of the doors would open. The first freight kept coming.
"I said, "Girls, I am so sorry, but we're going to be hit again." He estimated they had about 20 seconds. The broad-shouldered National Grid employee grabbed one girl in each arm, pulling them into the driver's seat. "I tried to shield them and then just hugged the driver side door," he said.
All said at first it seemed quiet. Kelly saw the train engine block out everything else. Then there was the sound of glass shattering, the squealing of the train's brakes. The car was pushed off the tracks.
"Where the back seat was just looked like an archway, so we crawled out," Salerno said.
The front passenger side door was pushed into the seat where Kelly had been sitting.
Salerno's other children, Adam, 13, and Emily, 12, heard the crash and ran out of the house. Adam called 911. He said he thought they were dead.
"I have never seen anyone walk away from something like this," Albany County Sheriff James Campbell said. He notified the National Transportation Safety Board.
CSX spokesman Garrick Francis said the company would also investigate.
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wopinator wrote on Nov 23, 2008 5:14 PM: