DARLINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A woman from Darlington said she was just seconds away from her SUV getting hit by a train early Monday morning after she got stuck on train tracks in the snow.
Christine Bowen was on her way to work from Darlington to Cranberry early Monday morning. Going through New Galilee to get to the Turnpike is her fastest route.
“I left an hour early because of the weather and when I went to go up on the train tracks, it was almost like the snow was packed and it wouldn’t let me go forward or backwards,” Bowen told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek.
She tried everything, but her car wouldn’t budge.
“All of the sudden, the arm came down for the train to come, and then I really started to panic,” Bowen said. “I almost went to hop out of my vehicle because, I mean, I just got it a few months back, but I was just like, it’s not worth it. I’ve got to get out of here.”
A plow truck driver who she’d passed just before getting stuck noticed there was a problem. She looked to her left and saw the train’s lights headed her way. Then that plow driver had hooked his tow to the back of her Jeep and yelled to get her to put the Jeep in neutral.
He got her off the tracks in the nick of time.
Bowen posted a picture on Facebook showing the train just feet from her car, after it was pulled off the tracks.
“Within seconds. I’m not even kidding,” she said. “I was so close, I mean, my Jeep would have been gone.”
She said she didn’t get the plow truck driver’s name, but said he was just in a truck with a plow attached. She called him an ‘angel in disguise.’
“You were there at the right time, and I thank you so much,” Bowen said.
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