History Main / GhostTrain

Although trains are usually seen as fun and lovable machines, they can be used for sinister purposes too. A Ghost Train is a train that has supernatural qualities, and is usually used to carry around ghosts or other monsters, scare people, or for other creepy purposes.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} "What a glorious night for me to bring the fright!"]]]]

* The Phantom Express from ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' is a creepy living train who carries a ghost with [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes on the palms of its hands]], a [[DemBones skeleton]] conductor, and two lightning-shooting pistons through a dark forest.

* Music/{{Madness}} had ''Waiting for the Ghost Train", about South Africa's apparent immobility on the issue of apartheid.

* Many artists have released a song called "Ghost Train". Searching the phrase on Youtube will yeild a nightmarish amount of results.

* In ''AlmostPsychoChuckChicken'', the four main characters are trapped on a train that never stops moving, thus the name of that part of the story "Almsot Ghost Train".

* Subverted in Creator/CliveCussler's [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt novel]] ''[[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Night Probe]]''. While investigating the disappearance of a train that was carrying a critically important passenger, Pitt hears stories of a "ghost train" that appears on stormy nights, follows the lost train's path, and disappears when it reaches the bridge where the lost train fell into a river. He later figures out that the story is a hoax, carried out using a locomotive's headlight and a PA system broadcasting train noises being pulled along a cable suspended above the ground. However this gives Pitt a EurekaMoment as to what happened to the lost train--it never fell into the river as the witnesses were hoaxed in a similar fashion.

* Subverted in Creator/CliveCussler's [[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Dirk Pitt novel]] ''[[Literature/DirkPittAdventures Night Probe]]''. While investigating the disappearance of a train that was carrying a critically important passenger, Pitt hears stories of a "ghost train" that appears on stormy nights, follows the lost train's path, and disappears when it reaches the bridge where the lost train fell into a river. He later figures out that the story is a hoax, carried out using a locomotive's headlight and a PA system broadcasting train noises being pulled along a cable suspended above the ground.

* ''Franchise/{{LEGO}}'''s ''Monster Fighters'' series included a set called "Ghost Train", a spooky-looking train with glow-in-the-dark elements and a creepy face on the front, driven by a group of troublemaking ghosts.
** The later LEGO ''WesternAnimation/HiddenSide'' series gave us "Ghost Train Express". Unlike the previous one, this looks like a modern times derelict cargo train. Its face consists of patterns on front windows looking like its eyes, and a hidden jaw that it can open. On top of that, ''it has wings'' and is driven by a driver possessed by a ghost. Spooky.

** The later LEGO ''Hidden Side'' series gave us "Ghost Train Express". Unlike the previous one, this looks like a modern times derelict cargo train. Its face consists of patterns on front windows looking like its eyes, and a hidden jaw that it can open. On top of that, ''it has wings'' and is driven by a driver possessed by a ghost. Spooky.

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* Creator/CliveCussler's Dirk Pitt novel ''Literature/NightProbe''. While investigating the disappearance of a train, Dirk learns of stories of a "ghost train" that appears on stormy nights and disappears when it reaches a bridge. He later discovers that the story is a hoax, carried out by a train's headlight and a PA system broadcasting train noises being pulled along a cable suspended above the ground.

** Doomtrain in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is a secret [[SummonMagic Guardian Force]] acquired [[GuideDangIt through a sidequest vaguely hinted at by some in-game magazines]]. It appears as a steam train with a ghoulish looking face sticking out of the front, and its summon attack, Runaway Train, has it crash into enemies, inflicting poison damage and StatusEffects.

* Creator/CliveCussler's Dirk Pitt novel ''Literature/NightProbe''. While investigating the disappearance of a train, Dirk learns of stories of a "ghost train" that appears on stormy nights and disappears when it reaches a bridge. He later discovers that the story is a hoax, carried out by a train's headlight and a PA system broadcasting train noises being pulled along a cable suspended above the ground.

* The Creator/TerenceHill LiveActionAdaptation of ''Comicbook/LuckyLuke'' had an episode about a ghost train. The train turns out to be fake, but at the end [[spoiler:when Luke mentions the person who helped him solved the case, he's told she's been dead for years]]...

* Website/YouTube composers Derek and Brandon Fiechter have a song called [[https://youtu.be/ejwF8antyE8 Ghost Train]] as part of their CreepyCircusMusic series. The story in the video's description describes a haunted train that moves on its own.

* Music/TheStranglers released a song called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haTi0eQegso Ghost Train]]'' on their 1984 album Dreamtime. The song was a metaphor for the lack of teamwork and demand of all the band members to be on top.
* Music/BillionBabies had one song called ''Ghost Train'', which the Tweetsie Railroad seem to have adopted as the unofficial soundtrack for their yearly [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgTkCUiXcbo Hallowe'en ghost train]].
* Music/HankSnow sang of ghost trains racing each other through the night sky.
* Music/{{Madness}} had ''Waiting for the Ghost Train", about South Africa's apparent immobility on the issue of apartheid.

* The 1923 comedy suspense thriller ''The Ghost Train'' by Arnold Ridley depicts a group of people stranded at a rural railway station on the anniversary of the titular train’s destruction, despite being warned that said ghost train is due to put in an otherworldly appearance that night.

* ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight'' has a level take place on a train that's been possessed by a demon. The bad news is you have [[TimedMission only a few minutes]] to get through ''and'' kill the demon that's infested the engine, but the good news is Zangetsu is rampaging through the level with you and he can [[CrutchCharacter tear any opposition apart effortlessly]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' has a variation of this in the ''AWE'' DLC: the Eagle Limited Train Car is an [[ArtifactOfPower altered item]] created from the aftermath of a supernatural terrorist incident that caused it to derail, killing 60 passengers and injuring many more. The twist is that it's not malevolent nor haunted by the deceased -- ''the train itself'' formed a sort of sapience from the incident and has been so consumed with guilt that its interior has become an odd PocketDimension, reliving its own crash over and over again.

** Doomtrain in ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVIII'' is a secret [[SummonMagic Guardian Force]] acquired [[GuideDangIt through a sidequest vaguely hinted at by some in-game magazines]]. It appears as a steam train with a ghoulish looking face sticking out of the front, and its summon attack, Runaway Train, has it crash into enemies, inflicting poison damage and StandardStatusEffects.

** It's not alone. The Union Pride was attacked by Confederate cavalry and crashed into a years-long fireball, due to being fuelled by ghost rock; in the D20 edition, the train may end up puffing into town one night and the ghosts of the soldiers will come out and do much the same thing as the Night Train vampires. And there are more; the supplement ''Saddle Sore'' has the Nightingale, which picks you up from a legitimate railroad station and leaves you at your destination after messing with your PCs, and leaves you at a closed station with no-one expecting a train at that time. It soon becomes apparent that you just fell for the old PhantomTrucker routine.

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* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', Arnold and his friend investigate the Legend of Engine 25, about a train piloted by a mad engineer which takes its passengers to the fiery heart of the underworld. It turns out be a DoubleSubversion: There's a real Engine 25, an industrial train which stops at a steel mill, and all the supernatural phenomena Arnold witnesses have perfectly rational explanations, but after Arnold concludes it's an urban myth, [[RealAfterAll the audience is shown the train leaving the steel mill with the ghost of the engineer riding on its front]].
* Alan Rails from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is a member of the intergalactic SuperTeam the Vindicators. Having survived a derailed train crash that killed his parents, Alan was gifted with the power to summon ghost-trains.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' titled Ghost Train Percy tells about a ghost train to Thomas but he doesn’t believe him. Later when Percy was going through a farm he accidentally crashes in a cart full of lime and gets covered in a white substance. Seeing the possibility in this he decides to scare Thomas before he gets cleaned up in the end.

** The later LEGO ''Hidden Side'' series gave us "Ghost Train Express". Unlike the previous one, this looks like modern times derelict cargo train. Its face consists of patterns on front windows looking like its eyes, and hidden jaw that it can open. On top of that, ''it has wings'' and is driven by a driver possessed by a ghost. Spooky.

* ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'' had a Friday the 13th event in 2011 featuring a Ghost Train. The player, Music/{{Voltaire}}, and Deady board the train as a quick means of traveling the desert. However they have to fight their way off in order to leave the train, as passengers are not permitted off once boarded.

* ''Franchise/{{LEGO}}'''s "Monster Fighter" series included a set called "Ghost Train", a spooky-looking train with glow-in-the-dark elements and a creepy face on the front, driven by a group of troublemaking ghosts.
** The new LEGO "Hidden Side" series gave us "Ghost Train Express". Unlike the previous one, this looks like modern times derelict cargo train. Its face consists of patterns on front windows looking like its eyes, and hidden jaw that it can open. On top of that, ''it has wings'' and is driven by a driver possessed by a ghost. Spooky.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} What a glorious night for me to bring the fright!]]]]

* The Phantom Express from ''VideoGame/{{Cuphead}}'' is a creepy living train who carries a ghost, a skeleton conductor, and two lightning-shooting creatures through a dark forest.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine''

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'' titled Ghost Train Percy tells about a ghost train to Thomas but he doesn’t believe him. Later when Percy was going through a farm he accidentally crashes in a cart full of lime and gets covered in a white substance. Seeing the possibility in this he decides to scare Thomas before he gets cleaned up in the end.

* An [[{{Gamebooks}} adventure game book]] ''Literature/GhostTrain'' by Steven Thraves featured an exploration of a haunted railway in the Scottish Highlands, where there was a chance of seeing the ghost train.

* An [[{{Gamebooks}} adventure game book]] ''[[Literature/GhostTrain]] by Steven Thraves featured an exploration of a haunted railway in the Scottish Highlands, where there was a chance of seeing the ghost train.