A Santa Fe man was injured Sunday afternoon when his vehicle was struck by an Amtrak train as he crossed the railroad tracks east of Eldorado.

David Moore, 28, who was cited for failure to yield, was taken to the hospital for a broken right leg and bruises to his face and arms, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia.

Moore, who lives off West Alameda Street, was driving south about 25 mph on Ojo de la Vaca Road, in Lower Cañoncito, at 1:42 p.m. Sunday when his black 1981 Mercedes was struck by Amtrak's Los Angeles-to-Chicago Southwest Chief that had just left the Lamy station and was heading east toward Las Vegas, N.M.

Engineer David Vawter told deputies he was traveling 40 mph and blew two long whistles and a short one at the whistle sign, about 2,000 feet before the intersection. But by the time he saw Moore's car begin to cross ahead of him, he said, he was unable to stop in time.

Moore, who had no passengers with him and was not available for comment Monday, told deputies he did not hear the whistle or see the train until it struck his car, which ended up about 100 feet to the east, turned on its right side. The train continued 891 feet down the track before it was able to come to a complete stop.

Garcia advised motorists approaching railroad crossings without lights or barriers to make a complete stop and look. "If you look both ways, I would think you would see a big train coming your way," he said.

Thor Sigstedt, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years, said this is the first train-car collision he's seen there, but he added that the crossing is tricky because cars on Ojo de la Vaca Road (also known as County Road 51) are coming up a steep hill when they reach the train crossing at the crest.

On Sunday, Sigstedt and his wife were going into Santa Fe when they saw the train stalled and asked railroad personnel milling around what was happening. "They said, 'Well, we just hit a car and we can't find it,' " he said. "I thought, 'Well, that's a pretty amazing thing to say.' "

Sigstedt said there was about 20 inches of snow on the ground, so he walked to the other side of the train where other Amtrak personnel had found the Mercedes down a steep embankment.

"When you hear about trains hitting cars, the people are usually dead," he said. "So it was very frightening to walk up and see, but he wasn't dead. ... He was talking, but he was definitely in shock."

The last fatality involving an Amtrak train in Northern New Mexico occurred in January 2009 when Michael Esquibel, 35, of Las Vegas was killed crossing the tracks north of Las Vegas in a truck. Galen Stoller, 16, of Eldorado was killed when his car was hit by an Amtrak train in Rowe in December 2007.

Sigstedt said gasoline was dripping from the crippled car and its engine was still running, so he helped pry open the sunroof. The ignition key was broken off, but an Amtrak worker used a knife to shut off the engine before an ambulance arrived, he said.

As emergency medical technicians were extracting Moore from his car, he asked Sigstedt if he could find his hood ornament. Sigstedt said he initially couldn't spot it, but when he returned to the other side of the train, he spied a "perfectly intact Mercedes grill — all by itself — with a chrome naked lady wired to it." He clipped off the ornament and came back to where a woman who identified herself as a chaplain was trying to comfort Moore as he was being loaded onto a gurney.

"He didn't respond," Sigstedt said. "I said, 'Well, I've got your hood ornament.' ... I handed it to him and he grabbed this thing. He clenched his hands on it. Then the EMT guys kind of pried his pried his fingers off of the thing and set it on his chest, and he crossed his arms over the thing and looked happy as a clam, and they carried him away. ...

"As I'm standing with chaplain, she says, 'Well, whatever gives him comfort.' "
Moore is a co-founder of the two-year-old Santa Fe Independent Film Festival.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.