'Too close for comfort': Woman flees train's path

Carol Baer yesterday morning found her car stuck by the railroad tracks, the No. 682 Amtrak Downeaster heading from Portland, Maine, to Boston barreling toward her.

She went for her door. It didn't budge. The train rumbled closer.

It was a narrow escape on the tracks in Newmarket, N.H., yesterday that started with a simple fender-bender but quickly became a life-threatening situation ending in a roar of screeching metal that left the 57-year-old Candia, N.H., resident scrambling for her life.

''It was too close for comfort," Baer said yesterday afternoon.

Baer, driving on Route 108 in Newmarket, had pulled up to the track crossing at about 10:09 a.m. The flashing red lights clearly indicated that a train was approaching. The train, with five passenger cars, was right on time and bound for Boston's North Station.

Suddenly, her car shook. The car of Diego Hernandez of Newmarket had rear-ended her, Newmarket police said. Her car was pushed just to the side of the tracks but well within the path of the oncoming train.

''At that point the gate came down" wedging her car against the tracks, said Newmarket Police Chief Kevin Cyr. He estimated she had 20 seconds before the train would have hit.

''My first instinct was to try to start the car to back it up, which was not the smartest thing," said Baer. The blue Dodge Shadow did not start. Then she tried her door.

''I tried to get out, but I couldn't get out of the driver's side," she said. The fender-bender apparently had jammed her door. ''But I didn't really panic at that point."

Baer said she never looked up at the massive locomotive rushing toward her. At that point in the Downeaster's route, the train was authorized to travel 70 miles per hour, though it is unclear how fast it was moving yesterday morning, according to an Amtrak spokesman.

''I knew there was danger, but I didn't see it," she said.

Baer said she calmly jumped to the passenger seat, opened the door and got out. She walked casually away, joining Hernandez, who had already moved.

He could not be reached for comment.

''I didn't even run," said Baer. ''I didn't think the train was that close."

It was. Within seconds, the Downeaster hit, sending up sparks and metal shards and car parts, and flinging her car aside like a toy.

''The train hit her car and pushed it through the gate, broke the gate off," Cyr said. ''Her vehicle hit a light pole and struck Hernandez's [car]."

Only 32 of the train's more than 300 seats were occupied, but those on board felt the train shudder.

''We were going through the crossing," said Bill Lord of Kennebunkport, Maine, a passenger on the train. ''Then, boom! The car came spinning off the side."

The train stopped. Marilyn Hunkins, one of the train's conductors, said she ''was so happy to see them [the two drivers] standing there on the side of the road."

Associated Press photographer Bob Bukaty was on board, working on a story about the train. He rushed off to help, noticing dozens of yellow pieces of paper fluttering in the air, thinking they must have been in one of the damaged cars.

''The front end of one car was smashed in, steam was coming out of the engine," said Bukaty, who managed to snap some photographs.

No one on board was hurt, nor was Baer or Hernandez, said police.

''Somebody was watching out for her today," said Cyr.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this article.