Ghost train (spiritual entity)

A ghost train refers to a ghost in the form of a train, usually just the locomotive, though there have been some ghost train stories that involve a whole train.

Most ghost train sightings have been recorded in the United States and Great Britain, where railway lines were the most extensive in the early half of the 20th Century. Some recorded sightings are of engines that were wrecked in earlier train crashes or derailments, while others are simply replays of past events.

ightings

* The Grey Train - A steam engine on the former Highland Railway outside Dunfermline, near Glasgow. The engine was first seen in 1921, hauling four dimly-lit carriages. It was later seen in 1929, and this report states that the train was floating. No further sightings have been reported, as the track was torn up in the c.1930's.

* Nimbus - A British Rail Class 55 "Deltic" diesel locomotive. Was sighted on the main line outside of Crewe nine months after it was scrapped.

* The Ghost Train of Republic - Recurring haunting in the woods of Seneca County, Ohio made notable by Chris Woodyard in the Haunted Ohio book series.

* The St. Louis Ghost Train - ( see St. Louis Light ) A supposedly phantom vehicle that haunts a village in Saskatchewan. [http://www.virtualsk.com/current_issue/ghost_train.html 1]

* President Lincoln's funeral train was said to be haunted by his spirit. [http://www.hallowfreaks.com/famousghosts.html]

* The "Silverpilen" subway train is supposed to haunt the metro system of Stockholm, the Swedish capital.

In fiction

*Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends has covered the concept of ghost engines no fewer than four times.
* "Ghost Train"- A song by Counting Crows
*Ghost Train - A song by The Gorillaz, a British Animated Super-band

*The Ghost Train - A play by Arnold Ridley.

*Long Black Train - A song concerning a ghost train that ferries sinners to Hell.

*Spanish Train - A song by Chris De Burgh.

*"Are You Afraid of the Dark?" - TV series that features a ghost train named 7:13 (In Episode 52, Series 4, "The Tale of Train Magic").

*During the Roxas' story in "Kingdom Hearts II", one of the seven mysteries of Twilight Town is an enigmatic purple train that appears without anyone on board. Later however, the players learn that the train is actually a train that carries the passengers to a hidden tower of Twilight Town, the residence of Yen Sid.

*A Ghost Train in "" appears in the beginning of the movie, where it takes new ghosts to the school that teaches them to scare people.

*Doomtrain is a Guardian Force in the Playstation game Final Fantasy VIII. Of all the Guardian Forces, this ghostly locomotive is considered the most difficult to obtain.

*Phantom Train is a train in the Super Nintendo game Final Fantasy VI that carries the spirits of the recently deceased. It is unknown where the train takes them, or even if it does anything more than carry them until they simpy fade away as a means of comfort at the end of their existence.

* A ghost train appears in the 1989 movie Ghostbusters II when the Ghostbusters are exploring an old, unused portion of the New York Central and the ghost train appears which then "runs through" the character of Winston before disappearing. Earlier in the same film, the Ghostbusters discover a supernatural form of "slime" flowing through the old Beach Pneumatic Transit tunnels.

* In 1984's Ghostbusters, radio DJ Roy Brady is heard speculating on the rise of ghostly activity in New York, and mentions that "Heck, my grandma used to spin yarns about a spectral locomotive that would rocket past the farm where she grew up!"

* In an episode of "Hey Arnold", Arnold's Grandpa tells the kids about a Haunted Train that shows up and takes its hypnotized passengers straight to the "fiery underworld". It turns out the sulfuric smell was coming from the train's actual destination, a steel mill. Although, at the end of the episode, the "real" ghost train and its conductor can be seen in the distance.

*In the opening scenes for the "Extreme Ghostbusters" series, several demonic figures link together to take the form of a ghostly engine. Many Ghostbusters fans state that they felt that the original ghost train from "Ghostbusters II" may have been put to good use here.

References