Andover driver has near-miss with freight train

By Todd Feathers, Globe Correspondent

A driver in Andover was lucky his wrong turn did not turn out worse Thursday night, when he drove his Porsche onto the gravel beside railroad tracks and became stuck while a freight train bore down on him.

The slow-moving train was able to stop and the driver and his car were unharmed, Andover Police Sergeant Cecilia Blais said.

“I was here when the call came in from the [police] cruiser,” said Ron Abraham, owner of Elm Street Automotive Center, in Andover. “He was almost in a panic saying there was a car on the tracks.”

The driver was attempting to make a left turn off Essex Street onto Dundee Park Drive near the commuter rail platform around 8:15 p.m., but in the dark, he accidentally turned too early and ended up on the trackbed, Blais said.

After police were notified, they called Elm Street Automotive to move the car away from the tracks, allowing the driver to continue on his way, Blais said.

She said it would be easy for a driver unfamiliar with the area to mistake the entrance to the tracks for Dundee Park Drive in the dark.

Abraham said the man had driven almost 150 feet down the side of the tracks before he slid into a snowbank.

“I had this happen on the other side [of the tracks] a couple years back,” Abraham said. “It doesn’t happen often, but it happens enough.”

Todd Feathers can be reached at todd.feathers@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ToddFeathers.