History Main / ThrillerOnTheExpress

%%* The aptly-named ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E13TRACKS "T.R.A.C.K.S."]] takes place largely on a moving public train.

%%* ''Series/GetSmart'' had an episode titled "Aboard the Orient Express". No prizes for guessing where the action is set.

%%* ''Series/TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries'' did this in "Mystery on the Avalanche Express".
%%* ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' - "Murder on the Moosejaw Express".

%%* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' has the tense episode "Midnight Train to Kingston."
%%* ''Series/QuantumLeap'': "Honeymoon Express"

* The game ''Videogame/ChaseTheExpress''/ ''CovertOpsNuclearDawn'' is sort of a clunky ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' FollowTheLeader set on a trans-European train that will launch a nuke when it reaches its destination - although unusually for this type of story, there are a few stages that take place on a different train running adjacent to the main one.
* The first part of ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheDiabolicalBox'' is set on the Molentary Express, theough the mystery is more about the train's destination than the train itself.
* ''Videogame/AHatInTime'': These seem to be the entirety of [[WriteWhatYouKnow the Conductor's]] creative output. All thrillers, all of them with/on trains. They still win awards year after year, however, so it's worked out well for him.
* Like so much else, ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has fun with this. In Chapter 6, the heroes are excited for a luxury train trip, since it means taking a break from their quest, only for them to stumble over a murder victim the ''instant they climb aboard''. Anonymous tries to bail out, and even after Catie guilt trips him into staying to help solve the mystery, he never stops acting really annoyed by the whole thing.
-->'''Anonymous:''' I know how this works, huh? I've seen the movies. That guy got killed, and one of the people on the train did it. It'll be up to us to solve the case before the train reaches [=GameFAQs=] in two days. That's stress I don't need right now.

* The ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom 2''-parter "Last Train to Gloomsville" parodies just about every train-thriller cliche to the max.
* The WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short ''Boston Quackie'' takes place on board 'Le Cloak and Dagger Express'.
* The ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Strangeness on a Train" has Peggy set up her birthday party on a disco-themed murder mystery play on a train. When her streak of unlucky birthdays leads to the mystery getting spoiled[[note]]Mostly due to Dale being a JerkAss[[/note]], Hank tries to cheer her up, which leads to their having sex in the bathroom. Kahn discovers the "evidence" and starts a new mystery to try and figure out who it was, as Hank and Peggy desperately try to prevent it.

* The WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon ''WesternAnimation/WildAndWoollyHare'' climaxes with Sam and Bugs playing chicken with trains.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Mystery Train" plays it straight for the most part. [[spoiler:...but then subverts it at the last minute, by making the whole thing an elaborate birthday prank[=/=]staged mystery put together by Jake for Finn's birthday.]]
%%* The ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Action'' episode "Get a Clue".

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s "The Grand Punk Railroad" plotline has several criminal plans [[CollidingCriminalConspiracies clashing at each other]], most of which occurs--wait for it--on the trans-conntenetal express train, ''The Flying Pussyfoot''.

* ''Manga/SoulEater'': episode 30 of the anime, "The Red Hot Runaway Express". Kid, Patty, and Liz have to board the speeding train and fight an enemy on board for possession of a magical artifact, while a third party outside is fighting both sides.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Chapters 53-66 of Kimetsu no Yaiba follow Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu boarding the Infinity Train to meet the high-ranking demon slayer Rengoku, and clashing with powerful demons aboard.

* ''Film/{{Transsiberrian}}'' takes the elements of this trope to the extreme. It's the longest train journey in the world against some of the most famously inhospitable territory involving Americans travelling from China to Moscow. In order to work in some believable chase and action sequences, they don't stay on the same train but they stick to their guns and have them steal a section of train.

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', Watson and his wife are on a train for their honeymoon. However, Moriarty sends a number of henchmen dressed as British redcoats to attack them as a distraction for Holmes, who snuck onto the train earlier disguised as a woman and hid in the lavatory. Holmes throws Mary off the train deliberately before he and Watson manage to defeat Moriarty's men.

* The SlasherMovie ''Film/TerrorTrain'' has a killer extracting revenge on a train full of masked partiers.
* In ''Film/RunawayTrain'', tension is building between a train operator and the two escaped convicts who hijacked the vessel made of four locomotives.
* ''Film/JamesBond'':
** A significant portion near the end of ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' takes place on the Orient Express, where TheDragon finally makes his move to kill James Bond.
** At the end of ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'', Bond battles the henchman Tee Hee before joining Solitaire in bed.
** ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' likely refers to FRWL with a similar scene of another Dragon, Jaws, trying to kill Bond and Anya Amasova and to L&LD with the two celebrating their victory with GladToBeAliveSex.
** In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', Bond tries to get to the titular character, but he gets chased by [[TheDragon Kamal Khan's right-hand man, Gobinda]].
** This is likely referred to in the opening sequence of ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', Bond engages in a battle with the assassin Patrice.
** ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' likely refers to the first three films with yet ''another'' Dragon trying to kill Bond and the BondGirl, and the second and third with another instance of GladToBeAliveSex.
* Snakes from a victim of a curse start attacking people on train onroute to L.A. in ''Snakes on a Train''.
* ''Train'', where the eponymous vehicle turns out to be operated by organ snatchers.
* ''Film/TheCassandraCrossing'': A terrorist breaks into a NATO lab in Geneva, accidentally infects himself with an artificial virus, and escapes on a transcontinental express train. A US GeneralRipper finds out about this incident and orders the train not only sealed but rerouted to Poland and dropped into a gorge, all thousand passengers aboard killed, and any evidence of this top-secret biological weapon outside the lab destroyed that way.
* ''The Narrow Margin'' (and its 1990 remake) has a woman who witnessed a mob hit hiding on a train, and hitmen searching for her.
* ''Film/ShanghaiExpress'' involves Chinese rebel bandits waylaying a train and holding the passengers hostage.
* ''Film/TrainToBusan'' documents the outbreak of a ZombieApocalypse on board a train bound to Busan.
* In ''Film/HorrorExpress'', passengers of Trans-Siberian Express are [[TrappedWithMonsterPlot trapped onboard with a brain-absorbing alien]] from ancient times.
* In ''Film/BreakheartPass'', a train with medical supplies and small U.S. Army unit is heading through Rocky mountains towards plagued Fort Humboldt. Among its passengers are the territory governor, a priest, a doctor and U.S. Marshal with his prisoner, John Deakin. However, nothing on that train is what it seems.
* ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'' is a dystopian scifi action movie set entirely on a highly-advanced train, endlessly travelling through a [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] [[SingleBiomePlanet frozen Earth]].
* In ''Film/DisasterOnTheCoastliner'', a man hijacks a train, planning to cause a collision in order to avenge his wife and child, who died in a previous derailment.

Thus it is that several works create thrillers set around a train. Despite all the advantages noted above, there may need to be adjustments made. Sometimes you just need that extra space or cubby holes to hide in so they'll make use of those places on trains people won't normally see, the kitchen cart and luggage compartment. If train companies have made any security measures to stop people walking off the back door or getting onto the roof, they won't be in this film.

* The WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon ''Wild And Wooly Hare'' climaxes with Sam and Bugs playing chicken with trains.

* ''Manga/JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo'': Chapters 47-60 of the manga, and episodes 14-16 of the anime, feature Bucciarati's team fighting the hitmen Pesci and Prosciutto on a train, where Bucciarati and Mista alone are able to protect the rest of the group from the La Squadra members. This story arc also introduces the character Coco Jumbo, whose abilities are frequently used for the rest of Vento Aureo.
* ''Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'': Chapters 53-66 of Kimetsu no Yaiba follow Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu boarding the Infinity Train to meet the high-ranking demon slayer Rengoku, and clashing with powerful demons aboard.

* ''Film/TrainToBusan'' set in ZombieApocalypse that occured while the passengers are still on train on bound to Busan. Although it might have been a (relatively) safe trip, many of its car having zombies behind the survivors made it a paranoid setting.

* ''Manga/Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'': Chapters 53-66 of Kimetsu no Yaiba follow Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu boarding the Infinity Train to meet the high-ranking demon slayer Rengoku, and clashing with powerful demons aboard.

* ''Manga/Demon Slayer'': Chapters 53-66 of Kimetsu no Yaiba follow Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu boarding the Infinity Train to meet the high-ranking demon slayer Rengoku, and clashing with powerful demons aboard.

* The 1946 ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' film ''Film/TerrorByNight'' has the detective solving a case of murder and a theft of an priceless diamond in a train. The film was touted with the TagLine "One Way Ticket To ''DEATH!''"

* Like so much else, ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has fun with this trope. In Chapter 6, the heroes are excited for a luxury train trip, since it means taking a break from their quest, only for them to stumble over a murder victim the ''instant they climb aboard''. Anonymous tries to bail out, and even after Catie guilt trips him into staying to help solve the mystery, he never stops acting really annoyed by the whole thing.

* Like so much else, ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' can’t resist parodying this trope. In Chapter 6, the heroes are excited for a luxury train trip, since it means taking a break from their quest, only for them to stumble over a murder victim the ''instant they climb aboard''. Anonymous tries to bail out, and even after Catie guilt trips him into sticking around to help solve the mystery, he never stops acting really annoyed by the whole thing.

!! Examples:

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' has a ''Murder on the Orient Express'' sketch once using various US TV detectives (Kojack, [=McCloud=], etc.) along with Hercule Poirot (all played by Creator/BennyHill).

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Originals]]
* One of these is the focus of the second arc of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'', ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Murder on the Rockport Limited.]]''
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E24MysteryOnTheFriendshipExpress MMMystery on the Friendship Express]]'' is about an investigation into who ate the cake Pinkie Pie was guarding. Much spoofing of mystery tropes ensues.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse On The Orient Express'' takes place on said train, where DM and Penfold must retrieve a document that would allow Baron Greenback to raze all of Europe's tourist attractions and lure tourists to his (''shudder!'') museum of Barry Manilow record sleeves. It climaxes with the enigineer and the fireman having deserted the train (reason: the episode was farcical and low-class) leaving DM and Penfold with the task of stopping the train before it crashes into the terminus in Paris.

* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse On The Orient Express'' takes place on said train, where DM and Penfold must retrieve a document that would allow Baron Greenback to raze all of Europe's tourist attractions and lure tourists to his (''shudder!'') museum of Barry Manilow record sleeves.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'''s "The Grand Punk Railroad " plotline has several criminal plans [[CollidingCriminalConspiracies clashing at each other]], most of which occurs--wait for it--on the trans-conntenetal express train, ''The Flying Pussyfoot''.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/{{Transsiberrian}}'' takes the elements of this trope to the extreme. It's the longest train journey in the world against some of the most famously inhospitable territory involving Americans travelling from China to Moscow. In order to work in some believable chase and action sequences they don't stay on the same train but they stick to their guns and have them steal a section of train.

* ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'': Murder = thriller. The Orient Express = train. Bear in mind it comes from the same author who mastered the NastyParty and uses it in much the same way for the purpose of subverting one of the big conventions of that trope.
* Another Creator/AgathaChristie work, ''Literature/TheMysteryOfTheBlueTrain'': also deals with a homicide on board a train, though unlike ''Orient Express'', the entire novel does not take place on the train. (It's an expanded and relocated version of "The Plymouth Express" in ''Poirot's Early Cases'', which of course is another example.)
* ''4.50 From Paddington'': the story opens with Miss Marple's friend witnessing a murder on a train running next to hers, and the first mystery to be solved is why there is no body to be found on the train or even lying in ground near the tracks where it might have been thrown from the train.
* Short story "The Napoli Express" is Literature/LordDarcy's version of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress''.
* In the ''Literature/SolarPons'' story "The Adventure of the Orient Express", Parker, at a medical conference in Prague, is cabled by Pons to accompany Baron Egon Von Ruber back to London, on the Orient Express, obeying all commands. Von Ruber is an agent receives microfilm from a dying British agent. Von Ruber then kills a deadly German female agent in their compartment. They avoid the Gestapo and outwit German intelligence.
* The Literature/PhryneFisher novel ''Murder on the Ballarat Train'', although only about a third of the novel is actually set on the train.
%%* Creator/TimothyZahn's ''Literature/QuadrailSeries'' is this setting [[InSpace IIIN SPAAAACE!]]

* ''Literature/ClockworkCentury'': ''Dreadnought'' is largely set on the eponymous train, with a mystery involving exactly what the Dreadnought's mysterious cargo is, and why so many people want it.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

%%* ''Series/LaverneAndShirley'' - "Murder on the Moosejaw Express."

%%* ''Series/GetSmart'' had an episode titled "Aboard the Orient Express". No prizes for guessing where the action is set.
%%* The aptly-named ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS1E13TRACKS "T.R.A.C.K.S."]] takes place largely on a moving public train.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "Mummy on the Orient Express" features a series of murders being committed on a replica of the OrientExpress that travels through space.

* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': "Murder on the Ballarat Train" opens with Phyrne and Dot taking a journey on the Ballarat train that is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOntheTin interrupted by a murder]]. A large part of the episode is spent on the train before the action returns to Melbourne.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': "73 Seconds" is this trope in miniature, as the team investigate a murder that took play on a tram moving between two casinos; with the entire journey taking [[TitleDrop 73 seconds]], so the killer had to be in the car.

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]

[[folder: Web Originals]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* The game ''Videogame/ChaseTheExpress''/ ''CovertOpsNuclearDawn'' is sort of a clunky ''Franchise/MetalGear'' FollowTheLeader set on a trans-European train that will launch a nuke when it reaches its destination - although unusually for this type of story, there are a few stages that take place on a different train running adjacent to the main one.

* Chapter 3 of Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent takes place almost entirely on a train. A pretty badass one, but that doesn't stop a giant from attacking.

** A significant portion near the end of ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' takes place in a train, where the TheDragon finally makes his move to kill James Bond.