A driver walked away unharmed after a train plowed into the back of her car in Charleston on Wednesday afternoon.
Madison Vipperman, 20, said she drove on East Point Drive toward Kanawha Boulevard East when the crash unfolded.
Vipperman had never seen a train in the area, despite traveling on the same route for months.
She didn't think to look for a train as she crossed the tracks. A locomotive from Kanawha River Railroad approached.
"By that time it was too late - I heard the train horn blaring," she said.
Her boyfriend, Tristan Craigo, said he expected Vipperman to be home soon. Instead, Craigo's cellphone rang.
"I freaked out because she said 'I got hit by a train,' and you don't think of this when you think of getting hit by a train," he said. "You think, 'Holy crap, she's probably seriously injured.' "