Train crushes pickup left on tracks, authorities searching for owner

Napa Wine Train at its layup yard in Napa
photo credit: Credit: Googlemaps

Napa police are trying to find whoever owned a pick up truck that was destroyed Saturday night when the Napa Valley Wine train slammed into it.

No one was injured either in the pick-up or aboard the train, according to Lieutenant Chris Pacheco of the Napa Police Department. Pacheco said the train was rounding a slight curve, and as it approached a trestle, the engineer noticed something very out of place.

"Somebody parked the truck right across the tracks."

Pacheco says from its position, investigators believe the red, 2005 Dodge Ram was left there intentionally, and had not broken down.

While what happened next was hardly Hollywood, it was almost certainly harrowing for those involved.

"The train does not travel at very high speeds, but as you also know, stopping a moving object of that size doesn't just happen."

The truck was destroyed, the half century old locomotive was undamaged.

"The train obviously did not stop in time, and hit it, demolishing it. Nobody was inside the vehicle, nobody on the train was injured."

Pacheco said authorities have identified who owned the vehicle, but so far have been unable to make contact. Pacheco said it had not been reported stolen.

Calls and emails to the company operating the train were not returned by air time.