"In one potentially serious incident, an attempt was made in Lurgan, Co Armagh, to hijack and burn the Enterprise train which runs between Belfast and Dublin. The driver managed to steer his train out of trouble and there were no injuries." (The Independent)
The last I heard, trains were things that ran on rails, and went wherever the rails did. Unlike bus-drivers, train drivers have no steering wheel.
It never ceases to amaze me that journalists, who we foolishly imagine to be trained in reportage, are so poor at reporting. People who make their living by the written word...........
Irish trains may be a bit different.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine, especially with the longer ones. that if you swerve to avoid a tree and get the thing to whipping around, it would be difficult to steer into the slide and ease it back on the rails. This is especially unnerving, I would think, in icy conditions.
Don't be too hard on journalists. They mean well.
I think that's why they had the caboose on the back... Well, not on the Irish trains, but it stands to reason the guy at the back might need to steer the back wheels too, to avoid that whole scenario.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet reversing the thing around corners is tricky.
"Don't be too hard on journalists. They mean well." Am I really reading this statement from the man who champions "clarity"? And let us be honest, some journalists do mean well, some mean ill, and some just aren't capable of telling us what they mean. The Independent is one of Britain's respected "serious" broadsheet newspapers. One where the readership is expected to cope with words of several syllables. I think the writer of this story had escaped from his cage at the Daily Star.
(http://www.dailystar.co.uk/home/)