Truck, train collide; driver walks away
Chris Becker, left, talks on his cell phone after crashing into a moving train Friday on Jellison Lane north of Glacier Park International Airport. Montana Highway Patrolman David Mills, Columbia Falls Assistant Fire Chief Jesse Best, and train engineer Mike Sackett are pictured at right. Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake
The Daily Inter Lake
A pickup ran into a moving freight train Friday afternoon at a railroad crossing just north of Glacier Park International Airport.
Chris Becker, 24, the driver and sole occupant of the white Toyota Tundra, suffered a skinned knuckle and a bump on the head. He declined medical treatment at the scene.
Becker was traveling eastbound on Jellison Lane just before 2 p.m. Friday when he ran into a Mission Mountain Railroad locomotive traveling southbound, parallel to U.S. 2, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
As Becker approached the unmarked crossing, his view of the approaching train was obscured by some trees, he said. When the train came into sight, he hit the brakes, jerked the wheel to the right, and tried to send the truck into a ditch. But he ended up skidding into the locomotive and getting spun off the road. The front end of his work truck was crumpled.
"Watch unmarked railroad crossings," Becker said after the accident. "I was shook up. I'm fine now."
The 28-car train was traveling about 20 mph; Becker was going about 35 mph, according to the Highway Patrol. Witnesses to the accident didn't think the driver was going to be able to walk away from the wreck, they said.