You did the right thing - you got the hell out of there.

But.....never stop on tracks.
You don't go onto tracks until there is space on the other side of them to
go to.

If there are cars on the other side of the track, you stop and you wait to
enter that danger zone, until they are gone, then you cross it quickly. 
Gotta be thinking of all possibilities at every second, like a safe airplane
pilot might.

Glad nothing happened.
I don't know if railroad arms take a lot of force to stop, but you'll notice
there is a weight on the other end of the arm to counter-balance it. Chances
are it is being let down, rather than driven down. Probably if someone had
jumped out simple hand pressure would stop it.

I can't imagine anyone would ever build something like that so it would
cause serious damage or bodily harm if it hit something.  Humans are plenty
stupid, but one would think, or at least hope,  they're not THAT stupid. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Ed Lloyd
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 3:01 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Railroad Crossing Gate Coming Down!

Mishaps seem to happen just as you are getting back from a trip.  30 days
and 4,981 miles in Old Blue, 87 Vanagon with NO problems.

Then close to home, in old downtown section of York, Pa, a built up and
industrial area, 2-3 story buildings, narrow streets, congested traffic,
limited sight lines, the light had just turned green and we moved a few feet
when:

Ding!, Ding!, Ding!  Red light flashing!, the unmistakable sign of a train
coming, but from where?  I saw nothing, and just stopped where I was, trying
to look around the corner of a close building.

My wife suddenly yelled "The gate is coming down!", and I looked over at
her, and out the passenger window was this HUGE arm coming down right on top
of the passenger compartment.

Too late to back up.  Cars behind me anyhow.  What to do?
What happens when the gate comes in contact with a fiberglass roof?  Does it
stop and go back up like a garage door?  Does it come down hard?

Any railroad people out there know what you should do?

I think I was not on the tracks, but was very close, as the rails were
embedded in the pavement and not clearly identifiable like at a regular
crossing.

I looked straight ahead, with the tunnel vision you get during an emergency,
saw nothing big, and just gunned the engine and crossed the track, just
getting out from under the falling arm and getting a glimpse of light green
gondola car in the rear view mirror a moment or so later.  It was moving
slowly, but was right there with not more than 10-15 seconds from the first
Ding!  I did not stop, but kept going.

What would you do?  Any ideas on how to  respond to something like this?