[Guest]

So, this is my first riddle. Here goes nothing.

There is a man driving a train filled with people. They are all real people, and it is not a cargo train.

While he is driving, the man notices a bridge coming up. He realizes that it is a really old bridge and will not be able to hold the weight of the train. He starts trying to slow down, but to no avail. He is already on the bridge. As the ridge starts to creak, the driver tries on last thing: he reverses the train. He goes backwards far enough that the train is off the bridge. A second after he gets off the bridge, the bridge collapses.

The next day, the man goes to work. Just as he is about to get into a train, his boss comes up to him and says: "Good job saving those people. Here is a bonus. You are fired!"

Why was the driver fired?

[Guest]

He was about 3/4 of the way across the bridge and could have made it all the way?

[MissKitten]

i know the answer to this, but LMS knows me, and she doesnt want me to post it.

[Guest]

He didn't get to his destination?

[Guest]

no to both, sorry.

[Guest]

because he wasn't supposed to be driving the train? Not an conductor? You do say man and not conductor (or is the title engineer... i don't know...) just a guess

Edited July 22, 2010 by RoyalBlue

[Guest]

Sorry, but you're wrong

[Guest]

I believe that man driving the train also built the bridge.

or

He took the wrong route endangering the people on board?

Edited July 22, 2010 by ninja-krook

[Guest]

wrong to both, sorry.

and the man is the conductor, sorry for not specifying.

[Guest]

I think that he is in trouble for allowing the people to travel in the train itself rather than in the carriages behind.

[Guest]

His boss's Mother-in-law was on the train

[Guest]

Here's my guesses.

1. He let too many people on the train to begin with and therefore knew he couldn't make it over the bridge.

2. He had a "loco"motive by driving backwards?

3. He was asleep and that's why he didn't notice the bridge until it was too late.

4. He was grossly overweight and that's why the bridge collapsed in the first place.

lol @ Cheesner

Edited July 22, 2010 by bocephis

[Guest]

Is it that there is no longer a route for him to run as the bridge collapsed

[Guest]

The bridge had a historical value and now the train company is in trouble. Besides, if the driver knew the bridge would collapse under the train's weight, then it most probably that wasn't the usual train route. Maybe he took it without permission.

[Guest]

He was on the wrong track.

[MissKitten]

Is it that there is no longer a route for him to run as the bridge collapsed

please use spoilers when you answer, thank you! it ruins the fun for others when they can see the answer.

@mackin lol! love it.

Edited July 23, 2010 by MissKitten

[MissKitten]

He was on the wrong track.

again, please use spoilers. and welcome to the den everyone!

[gvg]

He was asleep and imagined the bridge.

This one's pretty hard.

[Guest]

he was already half-way the bridge when he reversed the train..

[Guest]

So, this is my first riddle. Here goes nothing.

There is a man driving a train filled with people. They are all real people, and it is not a cargo train.

While he is driving, the man notices a bridge coming up. He realizes that it is a really old bridge and will not be able to hold the weight of the train. He starts trying to slow down, but to no avail. He is already on the bridge. As the ridge starts to creak, the driver tries on last thing: he reverses the train. He goes backwards far enough that the train is off the bridge. A second after he gets off the bridge, the bridge collapses.

The next day, the man goes to work. Just as he is about to get into a train, his boss comes up to him and says: "Good job saving those people. Here is a bonus. You are fired!"

Why was the driver fired?

But the force of gravity as the train was stopped(momentarily switching from forward to backward) must have been enough to weaken the bridge enough to collapse

But if he would have kept full throttle the whole way he could have off-set the weight of the train on the bridge in the downward motion(do to gravity) by accelerating through it and would have cleared the bridge and not put too much weight on it and the bridge could have still stayed intact and he still could have crossed it if he would have accelerated instead of slowed down - stopped and reversed(which would have taken way longer and cause more force downward then zooming across)

[Guest]

all of you guys are wrong

[Guest]

::edited::

lol nevermind

Edited July 24, 2010 by Tuckleton

[Guest]

1)His boss ain't actually being humorous.Maybe what he actually means is that " you are capable of doing more responsible job and now you have been promoted to ......." 2)The line " a second later he gets off the bridge(after the train was off the bridge)" points out that it was his weight that made the bridge to collapse. 3)The phrase"train is off the bridge " means that train falls off the bridge".

[Guest]

May be after this incident there would be many casualties and during the night visibility becomes poorer so trains coming after this incident could not see difference between the land and the depth down so many would have died. So for saving few people's lives, the driver risked many more people's lives. So next day his boss fired him.

[Guest]

Perhaps it was a steam train and, up until this point, the train driver had been used to stoking the fire himself. His boss was so pleased with him that he wanted to make life easier so he was providing him with an assistant to look after the fire - hence, the phrase, 'You are fired'.

[MissKitten]

bocephis(answer 2) and parik are the closest.

the conductor was on the right track.

the people on the train were safe.

the conducer was fired, as in, out of a job, not promoted.

i'll probably give a few more in a day or two.

Edited July 24, 2010 by MissKitten