I’ve never had it as bad as the people on this train have had it, but even the bit that I had was a thin slice of Hell. There comes a time when you pop the emergency exits, and I probably would have done so about forty minutes in. “What’s that, Officer? Sorry, man, don’t know who did it. Some big green guy.” [Other passengers nodding, solemnly]
https://twitter.com/chelseahbelle/status/871867107050487808
This is when I particularly miss my dad: he would have had a memorable response to this story about a Boston subway train that went on a joyride without the operator. A lot of people freaked out about the report of ‘tampering,’ but speaking as the son and grandson of railroad men, let me explain: there was tampering, but it wasn’t malicious. Specifically, the operator tied down the deadman’s switch so that he wouldn’t have to keep holding on to the damned thing all day. And, yes, I’m guessing – but the operator in question was a twenty-five-year man, so it’s informed guessing. A guy like that probably figures that he knows when to break the safety rules… and, to be honest? Most of the time, he’d probably have been right.
So… probably no terrorism and probably no elaborate plot. The guy just didn’t unhook the cord before he checked out the tracks, that’s all. That’s also pretty dumba*s, to evoke my late, sincerely lamented father – but at least it wasn’t evil.
