The Express

Text 1: Without Stopping, by Daniel Muir

An original short story extract.

Lena was sweeping the empty platform when the rails began to sing. It was such a thin sound that at first she mistook it for the wind worrying at the telegraph wires. Then the broom handle trembled between her fingers.

She checked the station clock. No train was due. Beyond the bridge, the two silver lines narrowed into the afternoon haze, apparently harmless. A forgotten penny on the wooden bench began to dance in tiny, nervous circles. The rails sang louder.

A black shape filled the space beneath the bridge.

It did not seem to approach. It simply grew. Smoke rolled over it like storm cloud, folding the fields into shadow, and the engine drove towards Lena with its single lamp glaring. The platform shook. The station sign rattled. Her broom jumped from her hand.

Engine. Tender. Carriage after carriage after carriage. The separate windows blurred into one flashing strip, full of faces that appeared and vanished before Lena could be certain she had seen them. Air seized her coat and dragged her towards the edge. She threw herself against the wall and shut her eyes, but the train continued inside her head: wheels hammering, metal shrieking, a hundred doors beating out the same furious rhythm.

Then there was only the long straight track and a scrap of newspaper turning slowly in the air.

Lena opened her eyes. At the far end of the platform, the heavy station clock was still swinging on its iron bracket.

How does Daniel Muir use language and structure to present the force of the passing train as Lena experiences it?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.