It's been 20 years since Jim and Libby House of Indianapolis, Ind., last rode the Amtrak passenger train from Chicago to Seattle. After the westbound Amtrak passenger train they were riding late Tuesday morning was struck by a semitrailer just east of Williston, the couple and other passengers found themselves stranded at the Williston depot.

Traveling in the second passenger car from the front, the Houses didn't see or feel the collision.

"We just felt the sudden stop of the train. He really stopped it pretty good," the husband said of the locomotive driver. "That's when I knew we weren't stopping for a small town like we have been stopping."

A report from the North Dakota Highway Patrol said a 2000 Freightliner semitrailer owned by Hexom Earth Construction of Williston and driven by Williston's Robert Treider, 46, was leaving a gravel pit site and was heading west on 54th St. N.W. The report states Treider was heading down hill when he noticed the train heading southwest heading to Williston.

The report states Treider attempted to brake and stop before coming to the intersection of the road and railway tracks, but instead slid downhill in the mud and struck the train. Ultimately, damage was found to the two locomotives at the front of the train. The train remained on the tracks and came to a stop facing southwest, while Treider's vehicle was turned southwest before stopping. The patrol reports no one was injured

BNSF Railway Seattle director of public affairs Gus Melonas said the incident occurred at a private crossing equipped with crossbuck warning devices at the intersection. Melonas said there was no reported damage to the track and the incident remains under investigation.

The patrol report states the incident occurred five miles east of Williston, however, Melonas said the incident happened seven miles east of Williston.

Melonas said BNSF was prepared to have one of its freight train locomotives pull the Amtrak train west. Amtrak Chicago media relations representative Marc Magliari said a freight train locomotive, however, doesn't have the connections to operate lights, heat and other essential systems of the passenger train.

Magliari said the Amtrak westbound train waited for the Amtrak eastbound train to arrive Tuesday around 7 p.m. One of the Amtrak passenger locomotives from the eastbound train was then to be disconnected and attached to the westbound train. The locomotive switch was just beginning at 8 p.m., as Magliari added there are no system problems with the train.

The other option was to charter buses, but isn't one Amtrak wants to employ since it would require a more lengthy trip for the passengers, Magliari said.

House said after sitting at the crash site for about two hours, the train then limped to the Williston depot, where passengers got out to stretch their legs at around 3 p.m.

"They are trying to entertain us," House said of what the Amtrak staff was doing with the passengers. "They are telling us you can go to dinner now, you can go to the lounge car."

"I think all of the passengers have been very good about it," his wife said.

"When you travel on the train, people are pretty laid back," he added.

The couple is heading to Seattle and then intends to travel by train to San Francisco.

"We're going to fly back though," he said with a laugh.