I'm a fan of Churchill, so I tried to look this one up to see what exactly the context was. As far as I've been able to find, this quote has never been properly sourced, so it may be impossible to verify he actually said this.

@j7luke, regardless, I agree with you. If he said this, it was almost certainly referring to a nation or its leader (e.g., Japan/Emperor Hirohito, Germany/Hitler, etc.). You know... as opposed to a blustering locomotive.

@kaikaikaikaikai Because a train is a "threatened danger"...

Yeah, try meeting an oncoming train promtly and without flinching, good luck.