I hate these trains. Allow me to explain why:
These trains aren't electrically operated, like passenger trains. They have huge diesel motors that are powerful enough to pull the many (many) heavily-laden goods coaches. Now, with (what seems like) hundreds of heavy coaches in tow you can imagine that there's no way that the driver could ever hope to stop the train in the event of an emergency. So, what do they do to compensate for this, to make things a little safer? They put a HUGE horn on the front of the train. I swear if you were to listen carefully, and if there were air in outer space, you'd hear this horn on the moon.
Anyway, one warm summer's day I was returning from a long day of lectures. I had the sliding window all the way down (yes, they could do that in the '90s) and was drifting in and out of sleep while the wind from the open window cooled me down just enough to make the dozing comfortable.
You see it coming, don't you? Well, I didn't. While I was dozing and in a state of absolute relaxation one of these diesel trains was closing in on my train at a speed that was too fast for me to hear its large diesel engines in time. The first time that I realised it was there was when it was only 15 metres from my window, diesel engines roaring and blowing its moon-horn for all it was worth.
Let me just say that I'm really glad I'd visited the little boys' room before I left Cape Town. My response to the blast must have been one of the most amusing scenes ever to watch. :)