Word of the Day
3 April 2026
cornfield meet
An accidental head-on collision or near head-on collision of two trains.
Why this one
A meet is ordinary railroad business: two trains passing at a siding by arrangement. The grim joke is in the location, a meet that happened out in open country where no siding was, so neither crew could clear.
In use
Two crews on the same warrant on single track is how you get a cornfield meet, so nobody moves till the dispatcher reads it back.
Written by our editors to show how the term is used, not a recorded quotation.