theirs not to reason why

[amadeusamati]

railroad: _ _ TOR _ _ _ (I think it might begin with N?)

[JMR27]

motorail?

[TOMMO33]

Motorail? Perhaps a bit unlikely.

[iBrowse]

autobahn

[teacher1]

notornis ....... a flightless bird of the Rail genus ??????

[brokenbank]

Motorail hasn't got the correct starting letter, has it. You're not looking for an M.

Beware, this bit is dead sneaky.

[Vicasso]

There's another use of the word 'railroad' meaning to compel or coerce.
'extortes' would fit loosely ??

[Vicasso]

oops, meant to type 'extorted'

[brokenbank]

Forget "railroad"........it's really, really sneaky. The starting letter you are looking for is not an "e".

If you havn't done Gordon's puzzles before, you may struggle. If you have done them before, just remember how devious Gordon can be. Glad to see someone's been thinking laterally......well done. It took me an hour to arrive at the correct word.

[Vicasso]

If Amadeus is correct about the initial N, the only suitable English word I can find, apart from teacher1's notornis, is 'notorius' meaning 'known'. So.......
Rail = to object = no to
road = Route 1 in the US = rius
Is that sneaky enough? :-)
...or am I losing my marbles at an increasing rate

[brokenbank]

N is correct and teacher1 was correct. The starting letter you need is an N, in order to also get the correct word working down column 1 (carronade)

Split into rail...........road junction. You're all looking at railroad..............junction. Teacher was correct all along, look up notornis, it's a bird of the Rail genus. I did warn you Gordon is sneaky and devious and he uses obscure words.

I've done all 18 puzzles since he started and still get caught out.

[amadeusamati]

oh how very sneaky - and thank you to you all

[brokenbank]

I did warn you, but it's par for the course for Gordon.

[amadeusamati]

I have to say - a very good quiz - it must take for ever to work it out

[brokenbank]

One needs to be devious, have a twisted mind and be accomplished at lateral thinking.

An up to date issue of Chambers Dictionary is essential. I think we're up to the 11th edition.