Superboy a railroad hero

As a powerful locomotive raced toward his mother's minivan, a quick-thinking Long Island boy became a virtual Superman and lifted a railroad crossing gate to let their trapped vehicle and another off the tracks.

The gate came down on the windshield of Jackie Murphy's Dodge Caravan as she crossed the tracks in East Rockaway, trapping the van and a delivery truck behind her in the path of a speeding train.

As his mother froze, 11-year-old Ryan Murphy leaped into action. "I was thinking about saving my mom," he said. "I don't even remember much of what happened."



The terrifying incident unfolded in the span of about 30 seconds on Friday night, as Ryan and his mom were heading south on Atlantic Avenue. There was a car in front of her when the crossing gates first closed as one train passed, Jackie said. Then the gates lifted

The car in front went through the crossing, and Jackie drove her minivan onto the tracks when suddenly the gate came down on her windshield, the mom of two said. "I knew the guy in the truck was definitely going to get hit if I didn't move," Jackie said.

With Ryan's heroic effort, the truck behind the Murphys almost made it off the tracks unscathed, but the bumper was hit by the train. No one was hurt.

There's a news video here.