A 29-year old Castalia man escapes injury when train hits combine

GROTON TOWNSHIP — A farming family is grateful their son was not killed when his combine was hit by a train Tuesday morning.Kent Edwards was heading to a field on Ohio 99, driving a 2012 International Harvester south on Billings Road from Portland Road.He told Erie County Sheriff deputy Brian Akers he looked both ways as he approached the tracks. Edwards, as he sat in the center of the cabin, had an obstructed view over his left shoulder from equipment on the combine and did not see the train. He did not hear the whistle they blew to alert him because of sound proofing to the cab, deputy's said.The train was traveling about 35 miles per hour when it hit the combine, pushing it about 649 feet past the crossing before stopping.The combine remained upright and did not tip over.Kent Edwards was shaken up but was not hurt.Billings Road was closed for more than four hours. A crane was brought in to remove the combine off the tracks after a first attempt to remove the combine with another combine failed.Reality continued to set in as the immediate emergency passed."He could have easily been killed," said his father Keith Edwards, Kent's father and owner of Maple View Farms in Castalia. "The combine can be replaced." The crossing does not have any gate or light.The combine was purchased new four years ago for a cost of $550,000. Before the crash it was valued for $350,000. It was totaled after the crash, Keith Edwards said.The insurance company was at the scene.Kent Edwards was cited for failure to stop at a railroad crossing.No one was injured when a Norfolk Southern train struck a combine crossing the Portland Billings railroad tracks.Damage to a 2012 International Harvester could be evaluated once the crash with a Norfolk Southern train was complete and the train could move back. The crash occurred Tuesday morning at the Portland and Billings crossing.A crane was needed to remove a combine off the tracks after a Norfolk Southern train hit a combine. Combine driver Kent Edwards was cited for failing to yield at a railroad crossing.