CRESCENT CITY, Fla. -- Robert Dodd Sr. was returning home to Willingboro, N.J., when the Amtrak train to Washington, D.C., left the tracks in rural north Florida, killing at least six people and injuring hundreds, according to a wire service report.

Dodd was among 300 people with minor injuries brought to a triage unit a set up at Crescent City High School. He described the crash as his wife, Betty, lay on a backboard with a white brace around her neck and a cut on her right elbow.

Dodd, 74, said he and his wife were sitting down to dinner when the train derailed.

"The girl said 'do you want white or red wine?' At first I said 'white, no give me red' and that's the last thing I remember," Dodd said.
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Reggie Jackson Jr. was working as an onboard attendant in one of the sleeping cars when the train derailed.

"The tracks had come loose, like thread. They were turned all different ways, and the wood was shredded," said Jackson. He climbed on top of a car where he heard screaming and popped open windows to help passengers to safety.

Jackson said he was listening to a choir tape singing about angels when he felt the train "starting to zig-zag" and then topple. "I think that maybe the angels were watching over me," he said, his uniform stained with dirt.
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One of the train's car carriers held a new $98,000 Jaguar just purchased by John Chemilin, 61, who was taking the car home to Cranbury, N.J., to show his children.

"I hope it is not in one of those front cars, all my life I've waited for it," he said.

He was in coach No. 34, which was dug into the dirt next to the tracks. Chemilin said he hauled himself from the overturned train car.
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James Pierce, also an onboard attendant, was working in another sleeping car when the accident took place.

"It felt like it was sliding to the left and suddenly it just toppled," said the onboard attendant.

Pierce, 39, of Huntingtown, Md., said he grabbed hold of the curtains and within seconds found himself hanging from a perch.

After the train came to a stop, Pierce said he pulled out the emergency window and began pulling people out of the cabin. He handed out bandages to people with cuts and bruises.
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Two passengers, Mike McAuley and his wife, Shirley, both of Rochester, N.Y., were taking their first trip on a train.

"It was going to be so exciting, a big adventure," Shirley McAuley said. "After the crash, it was so disorienting."
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The triage unit at a nearby high school treated about 95 of the 300 people with minor injuries brought there, said Brad Purcell, chairman of Putnam County Commission.

About a hundred Crescent City residents went to the school to serve as volunteers, Purcell said.

Many of them donated food and cookies to give to the victims.