Man survives train collision

MANKATO October 20, 2008 11:40 pm

— A quick shift into reverse and a failed attempt to hit the gas are the last things Kenneth Snow remembers doing before a train smashed into the front end of his car Sunday morning.
He was pulling out of his driveway along Highway 68, west of Mankato, around 9 a.m. when the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern train hit his car. Snow said trees block the view of the railroad to the west of his driveway and he didn’t see the train’s engine until it was too late.
He was on his way to the Alltel Center, where he works part time. He was supposed to work at a wedding show Sunday, but he also works in the civic center’s suites area during hockey games and other events.
“At least I had my seat belts on,” he said from his hospital bed Monday. “If I didn’t have them on, I don’t think I would be around. You get quite a jolt when you’re not strapped down.”
Snow, 83, was being kept at Immanuel St. Joseph’s Hospital for cardiology tests, he said. He was hoping to be able to go home today, but his knee was banged up and his chest was sore where the seat belt had been.
The train hit the front of his car, a 1989 Sterling that cost him $31,000 when he bought it used 19 years ago. The car spun around and was hit again in the back.
Snow used to collect cars and knew the Sterling, which was made in the United Kingdom, would be a collector car someday. Now it’s wrecked beyond repair and likely on its way to the salvage yard, he said.
“That was a good car,” he said. “I just drove it occasionally, so I didn’t have any insurance on it — just what I had to have.”
Snow’s son, Scott Snow, didn’t hear the crash, but he did hear the sirens from the ambulance and squad cars of deputies responding to it. He lives in a house on the same property as his parent’s house.
“I looked out and saw a car sitting in the ditch,” he said. “My dad is the only one who has a maroon car like that. It’s not a good thing to see when you have a family member hit by a train. He’s really lucky.”
The impact of the crash pushed the front end of the car against the motor and popped the plastic tail light covers out of their mounts in the trunk, Scott Snow said. A fuel shut-off valve was also triggered.
Kenneth Snow’s wife, Josephine, said she didn’t hear the crash, either. She said she was glad to find her husband sitting up and talking when she walked down to the car.
“When you hear someone was hit by a train, you think the worst,” Josephine Snow said.
She’s had a few close calls of her own while crossing the tracks.
“The trains don’t even blow their whistles when they come by here,” she said. “You have to get just about up to the tracks to see a train coming. You don’t know they’re coming until they’re practically on you.”

Photos

Kenneth Snow is doing well, but his car was severely damaged after a train crash Sunday morning in Snow’s driveway west of Mankato. Snow, 83, was on his way to work and didn’t see the train until it was too late.

Kenneth Snow was leaving his rural Mankato house Sunday when he encountered the train. The Free Press