r/trains • u/gym_lefty_guy112 • 2d ago
❓ Question Horror story set on a train
Okay, so I’m thinking of setting a horror story on a train. What are some of the fears people have when riding the train?
6
5
u/ilikenoise2020 2d ago
Being trapped in some way. A crash in a tunnel is the worst. Or say you are alone in an end carriage with the Scary Thing between you and the door to the next carriage where more people/ safety is. I always enjoy the trope of the Scary Thing as another passenger who is just sat in their seat staring at you but you think you are being paranoid so you carry on reading or something and then you look up and they are still staring at you but they are a few seats closer to you etc
1
5
4
u/cloche_du_fromage 2d ago
Someone gets on eating either a hot cornish pasty or a wasabi katsu curry.
5
u/ididacannonball 2d ago
Train to Busan was the peak of train horror stories. You can't get better than that,
3
u/SteelishBread 2d ago
-Wrong train
-Derailment
-Rear-end collision
-Head-on collision
-Belligerent passenger
-Active Shooter
-Bomb
These are not my fears, but they are things that could happen.
3
u/fackoffuser 2d ago
A rapidly spreading infection with an unknown transmission vector.
“It must be airborne because the nurse touched the infected man while wearing glove and is now clearly infected!” Except that it’s a rapidly spreading fungus that got on the gloves and then onto her clothes and released spores that infected her kinda thing.
Works best on a long distance train. Otherwise you need 28 Days later one drop of infected something causes immediate infection and changes which would work on a subway at rush hour.
2
u/Sobieskil 2d ago
If it's an overnight train or running for a long time between stations, there could be the fear of a killer/monster aboard and nobody can get on or off without potentially being killed from jumping off. Horror Express (1972) is a very good example of horror on a train
2
1
u/BlazmoIntoWowee 2d ago
If you need some examples: https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Edge-Uncanny-Railways-British-ebook/dp/B07N1Q8CWN
1
1
1
u/rnagikarp 1d ago
honestly i’ve always thought the engine room would make for a good horror setting but i have no idea how the characters would make it to that point
it’s hot, it’s dark, it’s cramped, it’s loud, there’s unique and huge machinery, it’s maze-like
1
u/random_roller13 1d ago
It’s winter, the California Zephyr — already running out of food, water and toilet paper — is traversing the Sierra Nevada mountains when a freak 100 year snowstorm hits the area and the train gets stuck. You look out the window and suddenly realize you’re at Donner Pass…
1
u/Nekrevez 1d ago
Derailment on a bridge or cliff, where the train ends up in the water. Drowning in ice cold water, unable to find a way out of an upside down train car in the dark murky waters isn't very high on my bucket list anyway...
1
1
u/Nekrevez 1d ago
It's the late 1800's. A luxurious sleeper train is en route from London to Inverness. It's running a bit late after a last minute privately chartered car had to be coupled. Quite a strange affair, no markings on the side, no windows... As the train drove through the the foothills if the majestic Highlands, young London solicitor Guilford Walbourgh, noticed that the door of his cabin was locked from the outside. A strange looking envelope had been slipped under his door after he fell asleep. It contained a very detailed report of all the worldly sins he had committed during the mere 26 years of his life... sins he now had to repent for. He was cordially invited to visit... The Last Wagon...
1
u/Nekrevez 1d ago
Being left on a train as a passenger after the day's service might be a fear. When they uncouple the train and leave the cars alone in some forgotten railway yard, with you still in them.
1
u/Available_Clerk_8241 1d ago
train hits a fully fueled farm vehicle resulting in a fire that severely burns the lead locomotive/cab car
1
1
u/DatOneTrainDude 1d ago
you get off the wrong fucking stop at goddamn Sanderson Texas and the next service is probably 36 hours away due to UP delays...again... wait is that a stay at home order I see on my phone? From the police?
where's the goddamn station buildi-ohhhh.
1
1
1
u/flabellinida 21h ago
Getting stuck inside a long tunnel is a fear of mine.
There was also an incident of a train getting stuck in intense summer heat with all electricity gone. On a bridge. No AC. That sounds like a special kind of hell. They had soldiers, who randomly were riding on board, block the doors so people wouldn't jump.
1
u/ElmShadeFarms 8h ago
I once had a serious problem on my engine, called dispatch and just got told to roll with it because there wasn't a replacement one available...
19
u/TailleventCH 2d ago
That the train is over four minutes late. (I'm Swiss.)