Train Crashed into Tractor-trailer in Topton, Injuring Trucker
May 29--A Norfolk Southern train collided with a tractor-trailer Wednesday afternoon in Topton, Berks County, knocking over the big rig's cab and smashing the trailer in half.
The collision occurred at 5:14 p.m. at the railroad crossing and Centre and Home avenues, according to the Berks County communications center.
The trucker was taken by ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. A report on his condition was not available.
The accident forced Topton-area travelers to take long detours around the borough, 10 miles southwest of Allentown.
"The train is stopped, so it's basically cutting Topton in half," a spokesman for state police at Reading said at 6:05 p.m. "We've got heavy-duty tow equipment on the way" to remove the wreckage.
Ethan Smith, 22, of Kutztown was working on the roof of Market Cafe and Catering, a Topton sandwich and coffee shop right next to the railroad tracks, when he saw the train coming.
"It seems like the truck might have been stalled on the tracks, and the train hit the trailer," Smith said.
It sounded like "a boom," he said.
"The train wasn't going very fast," he said. "It didn't hit the cab. It split the trailer pretty much in half, and then the cab tipped over."
The trucker didn't look badly hurt.
"He was a little shaken up and he jumped out," said Smith, a Market Cafe employee.
The cafe closed two hours before the accident, so there were no customers inside at the time. Smith said he was on the roof to help with repairs.
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