Train wreck
Categories: Rail stubs | Railway accidents
A train wreck occurs when a train crashes. It most often occurs as a result of an accident, as when a wheel jumps off a mislain track, or miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track. Train wrecks were occasionally staged for public entertainment; crowds watched as two vacant trains were deliberately sent speeding toward each other.
The term is sometimes used metaphorically to describe a disaster that you can see coming but cannot stop, such as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's assertion that a government shutdown would be a "train wreck."
The term "train wreck" is also used metaphorically to describe something distasteful or disastrous, yet inevitable, or something distasteful yet compelling in some form ("You don't want to stare, but you just can't look away"). The website rotten.com is a website which features much "train wreck" material.
See also: List of rail accidents