Worst. Train ride. Ever.
A group of Metro-North passengers was forced to spend a chilly night trapped on a train in a remote corner of Orange County yesterday after it struck a felled tree.
At 4 a.m. yesterday, the Port Jervis-Hoboken train was chugging through an isolated stretch of track when the accident happened.
The impact knocked out the diesel locomotive and left the train — and its eight passengers — trapped, said Dan Stessel, a spokesman for NJ Transit, which operates that route for Metro-North.
The train was originally supposed to depart at 9:38 p.m., but snow delays prevented it from leaving until past midnight.
“They were told that likely it would be long ride, and they were certainly true to their word,” Stessel said.
Typically, the 130-ton train could just cut right through track debris, but the tree it struck caused major damage, including a punctured air hose.
Unable to move, the crew and passengers were forced to huddle in the locomotive and wait — though they did have light and heat, according to Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders.
The next morning, an NJ Transit repair crew and the Salisbury Mills Fire Department trudged more than a mile by foot through 2 feet of snow carrying heavy equipment.
“They were greeted with applause,” Stessel said.
A mechanic then “MacGyvered” the air hose back together with “sticks and tape,” Stessel said.
MTA cops later gave them lifts to their homes or the station in Beacon.