h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What could possibly terrify Albert Einstein? After all, the famed physicist had the courage to face the awesome spectre of curved space-time. What would make him tremble?

A train. When William Gillette was driving.

Everybody's heard of Einstein, but these days, most people would say, 'William Gillette? Did he make razor blades?' Er, no. He was the most famous actor in the world around 1900. He invented Sherlock Holmes for the stage. He also made a pile of money. Being an enthusiastic sort of person with a zest for living, he spent his dough on houseboats - the first one was called 'Holy Terror' - and later on building a 24-room castle on a mountaintop in his native Connecticut. That's where he built the railroad, too. He'd loved trains all his life, not surprising since they were a new technology when he was a kid. At 72, he finally had a train of his own to play with. Gillette invited his friends over to take rides on the 3-mile mountainous track: President Calvin Coolidge, actors Charlie Chaplin and Helen Hayes, and the nervous Familie Einstein.

They even made a little film of it. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPws_KSmToo

Einstein did some thought-experiment work with trains. Maybe he and Gillette were on the same mental track after all...

As Gillette was the first to say, 'It's elementary, my dear fellow.'

I've just pictured Gomez Addams blowing the wooden bridge up as the train crosses

Good one for October.