Did I Witness a Moving Train or a Stationary One? The Mystery of Bolts of Light

[Dale]

Pardon me for butting in here, but if Trent is equidistant between the flashes and the speed of light, c , is a constant for all inertial frames how would he see the front flash before the back one?

Suppose the two flashes are located 20 ft apart (c = 1 ft/ns). If the front flash goes off at t = 0 and the back flash goes off at t = 1 ns then he will receive the light from the front flash at t = 10 ns and he will receive the light from the back flash at t = 11 ns. Conversely, if he receives the light from the front flash at t = 10 ns he will determine that it went off at t = 0, and if he receives the light from the back flash at t = 11 ns then he will determine that it went off at t = 1 ns.

In what sense would he be hastening toward or away from either flash?

In his frame he is at rest (by definition), neither hastening toward nor away.

EDIT: guess I was slow on the draw here

 

[kwestion]

Thanks to all. Lots of valuable replies. I think I now have firmed up where I have been parting with what should seem obvious (Stacy's observation translating to Trent's experience). Thanks for patience and willingness to get through. I willl have followup questions later and hope I'm as lucky next time.