Cathy Heller was looking for transportation to the Women’s March on Washington when she kept running into the same problem. On the morning of the march, every train leaving New York Penn Station for DC was sold out.

A few phone calls later, she found herself entreating an Amtrak salesperson: how many women would she have to organize before Amtrak agreed to add another car?

Heller, who got her train ticket in the end, says she plans to march in opposition to Trump’s stance on immigration and his general embrace of racism and misogyny. But she also has a more personal motivation. In October, in an interview with the Guardian, she accused Donald Trump of forcibly kissing her and became the ninth woman to publicly charge him with unwanted sexual contact.

Since then, Heller, 63, has watched with disbelief as the man she claims assailed her became president and prepares to take over the White House.

I really thought that if enough women came forward, he couldn’t be elected Cathy Heller

“I like to think I’d be at a march in Washington, or at least locally in New York, even if it hadn’t happened to me,” she said of the alleged incident with Trump. But barring that alleged encounter, she said, there’s no way she would have tried to fill a whole train car. About a week after Amtrak alerted her that they had added more cars, she had commitments from 43 women (and a few men) ready to travel with her to Washington.



They’re calling themselves Cathy’s Train.

Among their number are members of Heller’s family and some of her oldest friends. Many others are friends-of-friends who planned to march are thrilled at the chance to do so at her side.

“It’s very important to me to support her,” said Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a co-founder, with women like Gloria Steinem, of Ms magazine. Trump “is so intimidating to women who have had that experience. And she came forward, and that is really hard.”

“The march is not really about that issue,” said Gail Gordon, 63, who has been a friend of Cathy’s since high school. “And I’m not the one who’s out demonstrating every five seconds. But Cathy had told me this story in the past, about her experience with Trump. I thought it took tremendous courage for her to speak at that time. She was getting nothing from it, obviously, except for the potential to get a lot of grief. I’m really just so proud to go with her.”

Gordon is one of the many people who heard Heller’s story about a one-time brush with the president-elect before she told it in public.

“I really thought that if enough women came forward, he couldn’t be elected,” Heller said. “And I thought this is what I could do. Now, it just seems like we’ve gone backwards, and given license to terrible behavior.”

Some 20 years ago, Heller claims, at a meal she attended with her family and in-laws at Mar-a-Lago, Trump attempted to kiss her as he introduced himself. When she twisted away, she claims, he became angry and said, “Oh, come on.” She claims he then held her firmly in place and planted his lips on hers.

Heller told her story publicly on 15 October, just after a tape surfaced of Trump bragging that he could kiss and grope women without consent or consequences. The story drew a quick condemnation from Trump’s campaign, which denied all the allegations on his behalf.

Before publication, the Guardian heard corroborating accounts from family members who were present and friends who heard the story shortly after the incident allegedly occurred. Heller said she believed the encounter took place at a Mother’s Day brunch in 1997, although she wasn’t sure. After Heller gave her account publicly, a friend called her to say that the actual date, according to what Heller told her many years ago, might have been Thanksgiving weekend.

On election day, Heller saw the results come in with a mix of shock and hurt. Marching, she said, will be a way to strike back.

I have never ever been this frightened. The only thing left to do is to get on a train with women I love, and march Marti Reich, longtime friend of Cathy Heller

Of course, she and her 40-some companions are marching for a host of other causes.

“It’s certainly significant to go with Cathy, but what she started is bigger than that,” said Marti Reich, another of Heller’s longtime friends. “I think that I have never – I’m 70 years old – ever been this frightened for this country. I really believe that every single aspect of our lives as we know it is in jeopardy … And I guess the only thing left to do is to get on a train with women I love and respect, and march.”

Pogrebin is traveling with her daughter, whom she used to push in a stroller as she joined in anti-war marches, and her granddaughter. She said she is marching in support of people who feel personally threatened by Trump’s election, like people of color and individuals who might lose their healthcare.

“I’m an old radical feminist from way back,” said Pogrebin. “And I’ve probably marched in more marches than I care to remember. So this was a no-brainer for me. There’s no respite from struggle and resistance … the forces of retrogression, they don’t give up.”

Recently, Heller purchased a campy tour guide flag to summon her fellow travelers to the train, which leaves just after six in the morning.

“So I have to go to sleep now,” she joked. And she has no problem with that. “It’s not a time to take anything for granted.”