'If David hadn't been there it would have been a very different story'
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The wife of the Aviemore man rescued from the path of an express train on Saturday has talked of his dice with death and his recovery in hospital.
"I'm down at the hospital in Glasgow," Mrs Lisa Houghton told the Strathy tonight, "where Chris is doing well."
Mr Houghton (71) struggling with a bad left and hobbling on a solo crutch, toppled onto the Highland Main Line at Newtonmore Station on Saturday evening.
His brother-in-law David Reid (53), from Newtonmore, immediately leaped onto the tracks in a desperate effort to spare move him out of the path of the oncoming train.
He got most of Mr Houghton out of the way in the nick of time, but the train clipped the older man.
"He's had an operation on his ear," Mrs Houghton said. "Which had a bad cut on it.
"He also has broken toes, broken bones on his foot and a broken femur on his right leg."
The emergency services were called out around 8pm to attend after the train, which has passed through Newtonmore as scheduled, came to an emergency stop.
After medics had checked Mr Houghton out an air ambulance was summoned and he was airlifted to Glasgow for hospitalisation.
Services on the Highland line were disrupted for a period during the evening.
British Transport Police told the Strathy there were no suspicious circumstances.
"It all happened when Chris went for a wander down the platform whilst waiting for the train," said his wife.
"He and took a dizzy turn and because of his bad knee he toppled over.
"Chris can only remember being dizzy and does not remember anything else about it."
"He was very lucky David was there it could have been a very different story."
