You could hear the rumbling and thefaint hiss of steam even before Sept. 30, 2004?? 1/2 the day Merck announced it was pulling its painkiller Vioxx off the market for potential side effects. Now the sound of meshing gears and stoking furnaces is inescapable: The litigation locomotive is fueling up, taking

on passengers and preparing to set those steel rails humming.

The Vioxx Express is pretty sure to have not a single empty seat. Estimates are that as many as 50,000 of the 20 million former Vioxx users may have suffered serious cardiovascular problems.