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MIDDLETOWN — Joseph Mason said his wife and his mother-in-law were going "scrapping" to find scrap metal to sell and earn some extra money.

Mason said his wife, Christina, who was driving, couldn't drive a stick shift well and believes they got stuck when the Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck reportedly stalled out on the Norfolk Southern crossing on Waneta Avenue between Mohawk and Omaha streets at about 4:14 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12.

Christina Mason, 29, of 1906 Oneka Ave., and her mother Teri Viars, 47, of 1708 Glenwood Ave., died as a result of the crash on the railroad crossing on Waneta Avenue, in which both women were ejected from the pickup truck.

Viars was pronounced dead at the scene and Mason died later at Atrium Medical Center.

"She was a good person and a good mom," Joseph Mason said of his wife of 12 years. "She really was a happy person."

They were the parents of three children, Austin, 10, Jacob, 5, and Kara, who turns 4 later this month.

According to the crash report filed by Middletown police, the pickup truck was going west on Waneta "when at the railroad crossing, she did drive around the railroad crossbucks, which were down."

The train was traveling north from Cincinnati to Columbus at about 40 mph when it struck the driver's side of the truck and knocked it off the tracks.

Rex Johnson, who was on the train, told police the truck drove across the crossing gates and into the path of the train. He said the train's headlights were on bright, the bell was ringing and they were blowing the horn.

Lt. Rodney Muterspaw said no one will ever know what exactly happened and said the it might take a few weeks for the railroad to release video taken from the train.

"It's really unfortunate when something like this happens," Muterspaw said.

Jo Ann Bishop, of Glenwood Avenue, said Christina Mason was a good mother.

"We're very hurt by this," Bishop said.

David Engle, Viars' boyfriend, said he still can't figure out what happened. He said she had just dropped off a load of scrap and was going out to look for some more.

Engle said Viars was a giving woman who literally "would give her coat away to someone in the dead of winter."

"I'm just glad they didn't take Jake with them," he said. "This is something that shouldn't have happened."

He also said trains should not be going that fast through that neighborhood because of all of the children who play there.

Rudy Husband, a Norfolk Southern Railroad spokesman, said he was not sure if diagnostic tests on the crossing mechanisms had been performed on Monday. The railroad also declined to release video footage from the train at the time of the crash.

According to the Federal Railway Administration, the last fatality at that crossing was on March 12, 2006, where a 16-year-old girl died.

In addition, there have been two other nonfatal crashes at the crossing which has two sets of tracks, one was in November 1996 where one person was injured, and another in March 1987, where no one was reported injured, according to the FRAs Web site.

There have been reports of malfunctioning signals at the crossing, which is rough for vehicles to cross.

David Duritsch, public works and utilities director, said there are 26 active rail crossings in the city.

Funeral arrangements were still pending for Christina Mason and Viars as of Monday afternoon.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or at erichter@coxohio.com