Officials: Man hit by train ‘luck’ to be alive
EAST BETHLEHEM TWP. – Emergency workers are marveling at how a man survived being struck by a loaded coal train Sunday night outside of Fredericktown. State police trooper Brian Bell said James Hough, 50, of Millsboro suffered a fractured skull, a broken leg and pelvic injuries in the weekend collision.
“We looked at the front of the train afterward, and there’s not much room between the bottom of the cow catcher and the bed of the tracks,” said East Bethlehem Township Fire Chief John Hart. “He’s lucky. If he had fallen to the right or left and landed on the rails, we’d be talking about him in the past tense for sure.”
Hart said Hough was found under the train, 10 cars back from the engine.
“We had to crawl under the train and remove him that way. He was alive, but his breathing was not too good and his condition was probably critical,” Hart said.
Hough was flown by Life Flight emergency medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital, but his condition was not available late Monday.
Susan Terplay of Norfolk Southern said Hough was between the rails when a northbound coal train with 110 loaded cars struck him. According to Washington County 911, train traffic was halted until 1 a.m. Monday following the 10:20 p.m. accident.
“Following an incident like that, we do stop the trains and do an investigation,” Terplay said.
Bell said the train was going about 14-15 mph when the conductor saw Hough lying between the tracks.
Bell said the conductor applied the train’s emergency brakes and blew the horn but the train was unable to stop and Hough did not move.
Hart said the firefighters remained on the scene to provide lighting for the state police and railroad investigators.
Hart said crews had a hard time getting to the accident scene, which was between the villages of Williamstown and Besco. Washington County 911 listed the location as a half-mile south of the Besco railroad crossing.
“We had to go about 300 yards on foot to get to where the accident took place,” Hart said. “It was hard going.”
Once Hough was removed from under the train and placed on a backboard in a Stokes basket, he was lowered over a 40-foot embankment to Main Street to a waiting ambulance. Hough was then taken to a helicopter-landing zone that was set up by the Clarksville fire department at Ten Mile Creek Park, Hart said.
Hart said he’s still puzzled why Hough didn’t get off the railroad tracks when he heard the train, or why he was on the tracks in the first place.
“I’m not sure why he didn’t get out of the way. It’s not like the train approaches quietly,” Hart said. “It would be much easier to walk along Main Street than along the tracks. They don’t make it easy for people to walk there because they don’t want people to walk there.”
Bell said Monday night that he is continuing to investigate the incident.