History Main / SoulTrain

* For the episode of the show ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', go [[Recap/RevolutionS1E5SoulTrain here]].

[[redirect:Series/SoulTrain]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soultrain1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The hippest trip in America.]]

''"The longest-running first-run nationally-syndicated program in television history."''

''Soul Train'' was a music program in the vein of ''AmericanBandstand'' that ran in first-run {{syndication}} from 1971-2006.

Conceived and hosted by Chicago newscaster Don Cornelius, the 60-minute show was both a showcase and a trend setter for black music, fashion and dance for generations of black youth. Along with its signature elements, the ''Soul Train'' Scrambleboard (where a man and woman had 60 seconds to arrange letters on a magnetic board to spell out the name of a current celebrity) and the ''Soul Train'' Line (where dancers show off their best moves while moving down two columns of fellow dancers), the show is a pop cultural icon to this day. Along the way, it spawned its own record label (Soul Train Records[[hottip:*:which was rebranded as Solar Records after only two years, when Cornelius dropped out to concentrate on the TV show, though the show and label remained closely tied]]) and its own awards show (which actually survives the show itself).

Don Cornelius hosted from the October 2, 1971 debut through the end of Season 22 (1992-93), after which the show utilized a large variety of guest hosts for the next few years. Mystro Clark became the new permanent host at the beginning of Season 27 (1997-98), but only held the role briefly before Shemar Moore replaced him on the thirteenth show of Season 29 (1999-2000). Dorian Gregory was the final host, holding the reins for the show's last three years (2003-06).

The last first-run episode aired on March 25, 2006, with the broadcasts of December 9, 2006 to December 29, 2007 being repeats of episodes from 1973-88; some of these episodes were shown again starting the following week, with the very last broadcast (September 20, 2008) being the Donna Summer/Staple Singers show from December 15, 1984.

After the sale of ''Soul Train''[='s=] rights from Don Cornelius Productions to [=MadVision=] Entertainment in early 2009, an official {{YouTube}} channel was established along with a planned series of DVD sets from Time-Life. Reruns of early episodes can currently be seen on {{BET}}'s new Centric channel (formerly [=BET J/BET on Jazz=]).

Not to be confused with [[AfterlifeExpress a train full of souls]].
----
!!The show contains examples of:
* CatchPhrase: The show opening, "The hippest trip in America", and the show closing "We wish you love, peace, and...'''''SOOOUL'''''!"
* CoolOldGuy: Don Cornelius, during the show's later years.
* DuelingShows: With ''AmericanBandstand'' (though Cornelius hated the comparison), and later with variety show ''Showtime At The Apollo''.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Early episodes owed more to ''LaughIn'' than ''AmericanBandstand'' in terms of the show's look and camera work. The pilot in particular had a completely different announcer, and the open showed the musical guests (Gladys Knight & The Pips, David Ruffin, and The Honey Cones) were dancing among the "Soul Train ''Gang''" instead of showing short clips of their performances.
* LongRunner: Every weekend for 35 years.
* OlderThanTheyThink: Carol Song had been a ''Soul Train'' Dancer since at least the late 1970s.
* NostalgiaFilter: Some saying the show stopped being good after the 1970s.
* NeverLiveItDown: Although outlasting the genre by two decades, the show couldn't escape its connection to disco (particularly big bellbottoms and bigger Afros).
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: During the mid-1970s, a rumor began floating around that Cornelius had died of a drug overdose, prompting him to make an announcement at the beginning of a subsequent episode that he had not died of a drug overdose and his attorneys were trying to find whoever had spread that slander. The interesting thing is that while Cornelius had carefully stated he did not ''die'' of a drug overdose, he never stated that he hadn't used drugs.
* RealSongThemeTune: Many people think "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" was written specifically for ''Soul Train''...and actually, it was. In an interview for a VH1 documentary about the show, Cornelius stated that he hired the Philadelphia-based songwriting team of Gamble and Huff to write a song for the show. He liked it, but he was adamant about '''not''' calling the song "Soul Train", so they called it "TSOP" and he approved. Cornelius went on to say that he regretted that move.
----
''"And as always, in parting, we wish you love...peace...and '''SOOOOOOOUL!'''"''

[[quoteright:250:[[SpiritedAway http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/train2.jpg]]]]
-->''"Watch out, brother, for that long, black train."''
-->--'''Josh Turner'''

A recurring element in OralTradition and fiction. A sinister (or at least mysterious) phantom train beholden to no earthly schedule, often times in charge of transporting souls to the afterlife. A vehicular version of TheGrimReaper, then, minus the reaping (though that's not to say that a Soul Train that runs over people wouldn't be hilarious). [[{{Psychopomp}} Its conductor]] (if not the train itself) probably [[ChessWithDeath plays chess]], too. Interesting in that trains are a relatively young technology, regarding mythology[[hottip:* :Although it may be related to the Greek mythological concept of a ferryman(to be specific, Charon) of souls to the afterlife.]], but they've acclimated extremely well. The spooky train whistle also helps.

May not actually be a ''train'', but you get the idea. Video games love these things. If it IS a train, it may qualify as a CoolTrain. Sometimes overlaps with GhostShip.

No relation to [[Series.SoulTrain SOOOOOOOOUL TRAIN!]] OrIsIt?

!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''{{Digimon}}'' example: In Frontier (Season 4), Takuya found himself confronted by Dark Trailmon, a train Digimon, after getting annihilated in a battle. Dark Trailmon offers him a chance to avoid going to the Digital World, and takes him back in time to when his journey started. But the catch? He's running around the human world as Flamemon. (His wearing a [[SleepModeSize "rookie level"]] version of his Digimon form is a way around the problem of [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet two Takuyas existing at once.) He eventually decides to allow his journey to take place]], and [[HesBack returns to the Digital World]]. (And the bad guy they were fighting has ''long walked away'' to sort out his lost memories by the time he got back. Oh, well. Next time.)
* ''{{ARIA}}'' has the appearance of a ghostly train that appears to transport cats to some sort of afterlife. This is a ShoutOut to ''NightOnTheGalacticRailroad''.
* ''SpiritedAway'': The train Chihiro rides to get to Zeniba's home is intended for use by the dead moving on to the next life, driven by a [[TheFaceless faceless]] conductor and holding silent soul passengers (who are [[UncannyValley creepily]] represented as semi-featureless shadows). Kamaji comments that it "used to run both ways, but these days it's a one-way ride".
* [[spoiler:Rosette]] in ''ChronoCrusade'' finds herself riding on one of these after she dies. [[spoiler:Thanks to some words of encouragement from another passenger, she leaps off the moving train before it reaches its destination, causing her to revive in the real world]].
* Arguably the "ghost" train in ''FinalFantasyUnlimited'' falls under this trope.
* The entirety of ''{{Night on the Galactic Railroad}}'', in which the main character, Giovanni, finds himself and his friend Campanella on a magical train journey across the night sky. [[spoiler:At the end of the film it is revealed that Campanella had died saving another boy from drowning, and he has to journey on while Giovanni returns alone.]] The train scene from ''Spirited Away'' (mentioned above) seems to be a visual reference to this film.
* One season of ''The Gregory Horror Show'' had a bit of this. One passenger Gregory encountered [[spoiler: was the ghost of a man continually re-living his daily commute to work]]. And while he wasn't dead [[spoiler: ''yet,'' a giant chicken was unknowingly traveling to a slaughterhouse for his new "job."]] The kicker? [[spoiler:Said man is the first protagonist.]]
* The catbus in ''{{My Neighbor Totoro}}''.
* One chapter in ''{{Princess Resurrection}}'' had Hime and the gang having to board one of these while fighting one of her siblings.
* ''HakabaKitaro'' has the titular character [[spoiler:put two other characters on a soul train as part of a hallucination]]
* ''GhostSweeperMikami'' has a ghost train episode.
* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': When he's absorbed into the Dirac Sea, Shinji's mind ([[OrIsIt we think]]) conjurs up a phantasmal train that is already in motion when he appears on it, and never, in turn, arrives at a destination. While aboard, [[spoiler:he speaks to a second, unseen presence who [[MindScrew claims to be himself]]. Whether this other him [[{{Shinji and Warhammer 40K}} is in fact the God-Emperor of Mankind]] remains a subject of debate]].\\
\\
Rei and Asuka both end up in the [[FanNickname Hell Train]]. The real mindscrew is when, later, Touji visits the Hell Train...and sees Shinji and Rei in a similar train alongside him. His only comment is wondering what they are talking about.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* ''{{Ghostbusters}} 2''
-->'''Egon:''' Did you catch the number on the locomotive?
-->'''Winston:''' Sorry, I missed it.
* ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'''s iteration of the FlyingDutchman is the nautical equivalent. In the Caribbean. Captained by Scottish Cthulhu with a Welsh name.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The Hugo Award-winning short story ''That Hell-Bound Train''.
* The train in the fifth ''TheDarkIsRising'' book, ''Silver on the Tree''.
* In Maire Philips' ''Gods Behaving Badly'' Angel Islington Underground station is a gate to the Underworld of Greek mythology, with the dead taking Tube trains to the afterlife.
* One of the ''ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' books centered around this.
* In GrahamMcNeill's ''{{Warhammer 40000}} {{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel and Pasanius are dragged off a spaceship onto a Chaos-warped train that runs on the "blood-tracks" and carries them into [[{{Mordor}} a Chaos Space Marine capital world in the Eye of Terror]].
* In the third MarlaMason book, ''Dead Reign'', by T.A. Pratt, Marla journeys to the Underworld via a train made of the thighbone of a leviathan. She takes this train from a subway station in San Fransisco.
* One of ManlyWadeWellman's Silver John stories, "The Little Black Train", has the local {{Rich Bitch}} trying to escape a curse that the train will come for her (by removing all the local tracks). "A black train runs some nights at midnight, they say, and when it runs a sinner dies." [[spoiler:It comes anyway, but she repents and the train retreats.]]
* ''{{Fire and Hemlock}}'' by DianaWynneJones has one of these.
* ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': The place that Harry visits in his NearDeathExperience turns out to be King's Cross Station. It isn't made clear whether this is what everyone sees, or whether it's just Harry. And Dumbledore gives him the choice between going back and going on -- by boarding a train.
* In the ''StarTrek'' novel ''I, Q'', Q, Picard and Data ride a miles-long train of livestock cars filled with listless people. In this surreal story, what is actually going on is slightly unclear, but they know it will carry them to their doom.
* In ''{{The Rime of the Ancient Mariner}}'', it's a ship, not a train, but Death and Life-in-Death play dice for the crew's souls.
* ''ThePolarExpress'' is a more benign form of the mysterious supernatural train.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''TalesFromTheDarkside'': One episode of horror anthology series had five souls trapped for all eternity on a SoulTrain with nothing but a box of sandwiches and eternal boredom to keep them busy. Whenever they go into a tunnel, they turn into skeletons and black out.
* In an episode of ''Seriously Weird'', Harris and all of the customers of the diner find themselves trapped on a ghost train (the diner originally having been a car from this train) with a ghost conductor determined to drive them to their deaths and down to Hell.
* The third [[strike:[[CashCowFranchise and final]]]] ''{{Kamen Rider Den-O}}'' movie features a ghost train, hijacked by an evil Rider for his own purposes. The other trains in the series perform much the same function as {{Soul Train}}s except for time-lost individuals instead of dead ones.
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' introduces the Barge of the Dead, from the episode of the same name, where the dishonored souls of Klingons are sent to Gre'thor, or hell.
* The first episode of Spielberg's ''Series/AmazingStories'' TV series featured an old man wracked by guilt over killing everyone on a train in his youth. At the end of the episode, the train he'd derailed -- full of the ghosts of the people that had died -- pulls into the station, and the ghostly conductor leads the old man on board.
* One episode of TheTwilightZone remake had a woman being stalked by a creepy-looking bus driver and his bus full of souls after she narrowly avoid being hit by a car. The TwilightZoneTwist here is that [[spoiler: not only did the car ''actually hit her,'' but the bus driver isn't Death. He's Life, and he goes to people on the brink of death when it isn't their time yet and shuttles them off to the world of the living again. Sadly, she doesn't realize this until too late and vanishes in a wisp of smoke.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* The Chuck Berry song "Downbound Train" (no connexion to the TomWaits song of the same name) features one of these headed to Hell and driven by Satan himself, whose passengers have all lived lives of vice.
* The Chris de Burg song "Spanish Train" is a story about a train carrying the souls of the dead to the Underworld. God and the Devil are playing Poker - gambling with the souls. Naturally, the Devil cheats and wins the game.
* The Hank Snow song "Ghost Trains" is about a normal person watching two of these racing each other. The drivers seem fairly happy for eternal railroad ghosts, though.
* IronMaiden has, besides "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (a FilkSong based on the poem mentioned above), "Ghost of the Navigator", where a sailor meets [[{{Retirony}} during his final journey]] a ship filled with ghosts (though WordOfGod [[http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=album12_bnw/commentary12_bnw〈=eng&link=albums states]] that they're "ghosts of his subconscious").
* Not sure if this should go under Music or Western Animation, but the "Blues" song from the {{defictionalized}} band Dethklok from the show ''{{Metalocalypse}}'' has a song "Murdertrain a Comin' (Why is this song the Blues? Because it's about a train, of course!). A sample of the lyrics:
-->''Here comes the soul collecting train of murder a-comin' ''\\
''It longs to take your putrid blackened soul away from you''\\
''Your face will leave your rotting head, in the early morning''\\
''Your guts will leave your corpse, your spine will break and crack in two''
* The bluegrass song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHdDjdTpN3c Little Black Train]] and the more recent [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Black_Train_%28song%29 Long Black Train]] are both about this.
* "Penn Station" by The Felice Brothers has a newly dead protagonist waiting to see which of two rival Soul Trains, from {{Heaven}} and... [[{{Hell}} the... other place]] will get to him first.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Oral Tradition ]]

* Railroad folklore says you should never mimic the sounds of a train whilst on the railway tracks, especially at night, lest you summon said Soul/Ghost Train.
* There's a Stockholm urban legend, that probably started in TheNineties, about Silverpilen, a subway train coloured metal that traps people in weird ways.
* The United States has many Ghost Trains but the most famous is the one that has been carrying Lincoln's coffin back to Illinois for a hundred and fifty odd years now.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* ''[[WraithTheOblivion Wraith: the Oblivion]]'' features the Midnight Express, a train traveling through the Shadowlands that serves as neutral ground for all the rival factions of the afterlife -- including those serving [[CosmicHorror Oblivion]].
* ''{{Exalted}}'': The Midnight Express also shows as a mysterious soulsteel and moonsilver train that travels through the Labyrinth, conveying passengers to and from the Mouth of the Void. The Deathlords are interested in taking control of it; to date, they haven't succeeded.
* "The Train That Ever Was" in the ''CallOfCthulhu'' supplement ''Fearful Passages'', in the adventure "Iron Ghost". It carries its victims to a terrible fate: to be devoured by Azathoth.
* The Black Engine in ''{{Deathwatch}}'' campaign ''The Emperor Protects''. It's a daemonic entity in the form of a train, which follows rails designed to allow it to become incorporeal and exist outside real-space. In exchange for it's services, transporting psychic individuals so their souls can be drained, it's fed human slaves on every round-trip.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''KingdomHeartsII'': One of TheSevenMysteries of Twilight Town.
* ''{{Zelda}}''
** A ghost ship in ''TheLegendOfZelda: TheWindWaker'' and ''PhantomHourglass''. Overlaps with FlyingDutchman.
** ''OcarinaOfTime'': The Shadow Temple ship (that floats on shadowy mist!). It's not like there aren't ample death metaphors elsewhere in that place...
** ''SpiritTracks'': A very weird exception appears: We get the CoolTrain and a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]] rides it (along with a living passager), but the ghost in question gleefully giggles, smiles and plays around on the train while it drives around, removing all the creepy from the situation and moving it into CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming terretory instead. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8Ls77-NNY The commercial]] plays it a bit more straight.
* ''FinalFantasyVI'': After wandering onboard such a train, you have to fight it ([[EverythingTryingToKillYou of course]]) to get off. Strangely, you can perform ''wrestling moves'' on it. Of course, there's [[GuideDangIt no reason to do that]] at all (but seeing a suplexed train is something too awesome to miss). Especially since [[spoiler:a very common [[ReviveKillsZombie item]] will easily destroy [[AntiClimaxBoss the boss]] for you.]]\\
\\
The same train also appears as a BonusBoss in the GBA remake of ''FinalFantasyI''. The summon ([[DoomyDoomsOfDoom "Doomtrain"]]) in ''FinalFantasyVIII'' is also a reference.
* In ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] [[SonicAdventure Adventure 2 Battle]]'', there are a few soul trains in the Pumpkin Hill level that keep circling through walls, though they don't really serve any purpose. Except [[EverythingTryingToKillYou running Knuckles over]] whenever the player isn't paying attention.
* In ''FinalFantasyTactics'', one of the wonders you can discover is a soul train. Likely a direct reference to the aforementioned Phantom Train from ''Final Fantasy VI'', seeing how many of the other wonders in the game happen to be locations and objects from the previous games in the series.
* In ''GrimFandango'', the Number Nine express train carries only the most saintly of souls to the Ninth Underworld in four minutes instead of four years like the others who have to travel by different means. Illegally obtaining your ticket, however, has dire consequences, as the entire train quite literally goes to Hell as a result.
* One of the ''{{Darkstalkers}}'' games had a stage set on a train with several body parts and a skeletal conductor. For a series based upon horror tropes and everything related to the lore surrounding it, it's rather unsurprising that a Soul Train would be in it.
* There's one in ''SkiesOfArcadia'' too. Travels at high altitudes between Nasr, the Lands of Ice, and Mid-Ocean in a triangular route.
* ''SamAndMax'': Sam and Max board one to visit Hell, LLC.
* ''[[{{Metro2033}} Metro 2033]]'' has one in the level "Ghosts". The headlights are visible as it heads down the rails, but the train itself (and if you look in the windows, the passengers) can only be seen as a shadow via your flashlight.
* The Infernal Train in ''AliceMadnessReturns'' that has replaced the old Looking Glass-line, and is vibrating the Wonderland in pieces as it goes.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* The ''TomAndJerry'' short "Heavenly Puss".
* An urban legend on an episode of ''HeyArnold''. It turns out to be a train to [[spoiler:a metalworking factory. And a ghost train.]]
* On the ''{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}'' episode "Graveyard Shift", Squidward tells [=SpongeBob=] the story of the Hash-Slinging Slasher, who on every - what day is it? - ''Tuesday'' night comes to the Krusty Krab on the ghost of the bus that ran him over. Later that night, a bus arrives in a cloud of fog.
-->'''Spongebob:''' I didn't know the busses ran this late.
-->'''Squidward:''' They ''don't!''
* Long John Scarechrome's ship in ''[[{{ptitle1094ykag}} Filmation's GhostBusters]]''.
* In ''{{The Real Ghostbusters}}'' episode "Knock Knock", the Ghostbusters board a train in New York, only to realise that it has been taken over by demonic forces, it's passengers killed and turned into skeletons. Their solution? blast them all!
* ''{{Thomas the Tank Engine}}'' has both Percy and Peter Sam tell stories about ghost trains. Percy's story (and the accompanying cinematic sequence) is pure NightmareFuel.
* ''TheReplacements'' features ''Splatter Train'', an [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe]] BMovie about a ghostly train who murders teenagers at MakeOutPoint.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* On [[http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/27/north.carolina.ghost.train/index.html?hpt=T2 Friday, August 27, 2010 a group of people gathered at the site of an 1891 train crash]] to see if they could hear the purported SoulTrain. Instead they ended up finding the RailroadTracksOfDoom.

[[/folder]]

* ''[[{{Metro2033}} Metro 2033]]'' has one in the level "Ghosts". The headlights are visible as it heads down the rails, but the train itself (and if you look in the windows, the passengers) can only be seen as a shadow via your flashlight.

-->''"Watch out, brother, for that long black train."''

-->''"Watch out brother for that long black train"''

* One episode of TheTwilightZone remake had a woman being stalked by a creepy-looking bus driver and his bus full of souls after she narrowly avoid being hit by a car. The twist here is that [[spoiler: not only did the car ''actually hit her,'' but the bus driver isn't Death. He's Life, and he goes to people on the brink of death when it isn't their time yet and shuttles them off to the world of the living again. Sadly, she doesn't realize this until too late and vanishes in a wisp of smoke.]]

A recurring element in OralTradition and fiction. A sinister (or at least mysterious) phantom train beholden to no earthly schedule, often times in charge of transporting souls to the afterlife. A vehicular version of TheGrimReaper, then, minus the reaping (though that's not to say that a Soul Train that runs over people wouldn't be hilarious). Its conductor (if not the train itself) probably [[ChessWithDeath plays chess]], too. Interesting in that trains are a relatively young technology, regarding mythology[[hottip:* :Although it may be related to the Greek mythological concept of a ferryman(to be specific, Charon) of souls to the afterlife.]], but they've acclimated extremely well. The spooky train whistle also helps.

[[SpiritedAway http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/train2.jpg]]

* IronMaiden has, besides "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (a FilkSong based on the poem mentioned above), "Ghost of the Navigator", where a sailor meets [[{{Retirony}} during his final journey]] a ship filled with ghosts (though WordOfGod [[http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=album12_bnw/commentary12_bnw⟨=eng&link=albums states]] that they're "ghosts of his subconscious").

* There's a chapter book aimed toward younger audiences that is based off the true story of a dog in Japan that died waiting for its dead master for years at a train station. The dog dies after ten years, and one of the workers states that he believes the train that arrives at the time of his death is a soul train.

* IronMaiden has, besides "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (a FilkSong based on the poem mentioned above), "Ghost of the Navigator", where a sailor meets [[{{Retirony}} during his final journey]] a ship filled with ghosts (though WordOfGod [[http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=album12_bnw/commentary12_bnw&lang=eng&link=albums states]] that they're "ghosts of his subconscious").

* ''{{ARIA}}'' has the appearance of a ghostly train that appears to transport cats to some sort of afterlife.
** Actually, that's a ShoutOut to Night On The Galactic Railroad, wich is pretty much this trope as a whole.
* The train Chihiro rides to get to Zeniba's home in ''SpiritedAway'' is intended for use by the dead moving on to the next life, driven by a [[TheFaceless faceless]] conductor and holding silent soul passengers (who are [[UncannyValley creepily]] represented as semi-featureless shadows). Kamaji comments that it "used to run both ways, but these days it's a one-way ride".

* One season of ''The Gregory Horror Show'' had a bit of this. One passenger Gregory encountered [[spoiler: was the ghost of a man continually re-living his daily commute to work]]. And while he wasn't dead [[spoiler: ''yet,'' a giant chicken was unknowingly traveling to a slaughterhouse for his new "job."]]
** The kicker to the former? [[spoiler:Said man is the first protagonist.]]

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'': When he's absorbed into the Dirac Sea, Shinji's mind ([[OrIsIt we think]]) conjurs up a phantasmal train that is already in motion when he appears on it, and never, in turn, arrives at a destination. While aboard, [[spoiler:he speaks to a second, unseen presence who [[MindScrew claims to be himself]]. Whether this other him [[{{Shinji and Warhammer 40K}} is in fact the God-Emperor of Mankind]] remains a subject of debate]].
** Rei and Asuka both end up in the [[FanNickname Hell Train]]. The real mindscrew is when, later, Touji visits the Hell Train...and sees Shinji and Rei in a similar train alongside him. His only comment is wondering what they are talking about.

* ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'''s iteration of the FlyingDutchman is the nautical equivalent. Odd, because the Dutchman was supposed to go around Cape Horn, and be nowhere near the Caribbean. And it's captain were supposed to be Dutch, and not Scottish Cthulhu with a Welsh name.
** Some stories say that the name "The Flying Dutchman" referred to the ''ship'', and not the captain.
*** Dutch troper here. The stories I heard/read state that "the Flying Dutchman" applies to both ship and captain, though the ship was already called that when it turned into a GhostShip. The Captain ''was'' Dutch, though; his name was Willem van der Decken.
**** [[FridgeBrilliance In the movie 'verse, captainship of the Flying Dutchman can be transferred via a form of]] KlingonPromotion.

** Something similar was done decades earlier in TomHolt's ''Ye Gods!'', which is a funnier but less coherent book along the same lines.
*** Tom Holt steals a number of jokes from 1920s short story author John Collier. That was one of them.

* The place that Harry visits in his NearDeathExperience in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' turns out to be King's Cross Station. It isn't made clear whether this is what everyone sees, or whether it's just Harry.
** And Dumbledore gives him the choice between going back and going on -- by boarding a train.

* One episode of horror anthology series ''TalesFromTheDarkside'' had five souls trapped for all eternity on a SoulTrain with nothing but a box of sandwiches and eternal boredom to keep them busy. Whenever they go into a tunnel, they turn into skeletons and black out.
* In an epsisode of ''Seriously Weird'', Harris and all of the customers of the diner find themselves trapped on a ghost train (the diner originally having been a car from this train) with a ghost conductor determined to drive them to their deaths and down to Hell.

* ''{{Star Trek Voyager}}'' introduces the Barge of the Dead, from the episode of the same name, where the dishonored souls of Klingons are sent to Gre'thor, or hell.

* IronMaiden has, besides "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (a FilkSong based on the poem mentioned above), "Ghost of the Navigator", where a sailor meets [[{{Retirony}} during his final journey]] a ship filled with ghosts (though WordOfGod [[http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=album12_bnw/commentary12_bnw 〈=eng&link=albums#track2 states]] that they're "ghosts of his subconscious").

* Speaking of OralTradition, there's a bit of railroad folklore that says you should never mimic the sounds of a train whilst on the railway tracks, especially at night, lest you summon said Soul/Ghost Train.
* There's a Stockholm urban legend, that probably started in TheNineties, about a subway train coloured metal that traps people in weird ways.
** Ah, you mean [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpilen Silverpilen]].

** The Midnight Express also shows up in ''{{Exalted}}'', as a mysterious soulsteel and moonsilver train that travels through the Labyrinth, conveying passengers to and from the Mouth of the Void. The Deathlords are interested in taking control of it; to date, they haven't succeeded.

* One of TheSevenMysteries of Twilight Town in ''KingdomHeartsII''.
* A ghost ship in ''TheLegendOfZelda: TheWindWaker'' and ''PhantomHourglass''. Overlaps with FlyingDutchman.
** One wonders if the Shadow Temple ship (that floats on shadowy mist!) in ''OcarinaOfTime'' counts. It's not like there aren't ample death metaphors elsewhere in that place...
** A very weird exception appears in ''SpiritTracks'': We get the CoolTrain and a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghost]] rides it (along with a living passager), but the ghost in question gleefully giggles, smiles and plays around on the train while it drives around, removing all the creepy from the situation and moving it into CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming terretory instead.
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8Ls77-NNY The commercial]] plays it a bit more straight.
* ''FinalFantasyVI'': After wandering onboard such a train, you have to fight it ([[EverythingTryingToKillYou of course]]) to get off. Strangely, you can perform ''wrestling moves'' on it. Of course, there's [[GuideDangIt no reason to do that]] at all (but seeing a suplexed train is something too awesome to miss). Especially since [[spoiler:a very common [[ReviveKillsZombie item]] will easily destroy [[AntiClimaxBoss the boss]] for you.]]
** The same train also appears as a BonusBoss in the GBA remake of ''FinalFantasyI''.
*** This version's a real {{jerkass}}, too. It's strongly implied that Phantom Train hit the citizens of that area with Zombie and [[TakenForGranite Break]] (complete with AndIMustScream), and turned their flower field into a graveyard, for no reason other than ForTheEvulz. Also, the ReviveKillsZombie trick doesn't work here, so you must stick with weapons, [[KillItWithFire Fire]] and [[WhiteMagic Dia]]. The people and land [[IGotBetter get better]] when you waste [=PT=].
** The summon ([[DoomyDoomsOfDoom "Doomtrain"]]) in ''FinalFantasyVIII'' and the one in KingdomHearts are likely direct references to this one.
* In ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] [[SonicAdventure Adventure 2 Battle]]'', there are a few soul trains in the Pumpkin Hill level that keep circling through walls, though they don't really serve any purpose.
** Except [[EverythingTryingToKillYou running Knuckles over]] whenever the player isn't paying attention.
* In ''FinalFantasyTactics'', one of the wonders you can discover is a soul train.
** Likely a direct reference to the aforementioned Phantom Train from ''Final Fantasy VI'', seeing how many of the other wonders in the game happen to be locations and objects from the previous games in the series.

* SamAndMax board one to visit Hell, LLC.
* ''Metro2033'' has one in the level "Ghosts". The headlights are visible as it heads down the rails, but the train itself (and if you look in the windows, the passengers) can only be seen as a shadow via your flashlight.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

* ''{{ARIA}}'' has the appearance of a ghostly train that appears to transport cats to some sort of afterlife.

* One season of ''TheGregoryHorrorShow'' had a bit of this. One passenger Gregory encountered [[spoiler: was the ghost of a man continually re-living his daily commute to work]]. And while he wasn't dead [[spoiler: ''yet,'' a giant chicken was unknowingly traveling to a slaughterhouse for his new "job."]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* In the third MarlaMason book, ''Dead Reign'', by T.A. Pratt, Marla journeys to the Underworld via a train made of the thighbone of a leviathan. She takes this train from a subway station in San Fransisco.

* ''{{Fire and Hemlock}}'' by DianaWynneJones has one of these.

* In ''{{The Rime of the Ancient Mariner}}'', it's a ship, not a train, but Death and Life-in-Death play dice for the crew's souls.
* ''ThePolarExpress'' is a more benign form of the mysterious supernatural train.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* One episode of horror anthology series ''TalesFromTheDarkside'' had five souls trapped for all eternity on a SoulTrain with nothing but a box of sandwiches and eternal boredom to keep them busy. Whenever they go into a tunnel, they turn into skeletons and black out.
* In an epsisode of ''SeriouslyWeird'', Harris and all of the customers of the diner find themselves trapped on a ghost train (the diner originally having been a car from this train) with a ghost conductor determined to drive them to their deaths and down to Hell.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

* IronMaiden has, besides "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (a FilkSong based on the poem mentioned above), "Ghost of the Navigator", where a sailor meets [[{{Retirony}} during his final journey]] a ship filled with ghosts (though WordOfGod [[http://www.ironmaidencommentary.com/?url=album12_bnw/commentary12_bnw〈=eng&link=albums#track2 states]] that they're "ghosts of his subconscious").

* "Penn Station" by TheFeliceBrothers has a newly dead protagonist waiting to see which of two rival Soul Trains, from {{Heaven}} and... [[{{Hell}} the... other place]] will get to him first.

[[AC:OralTradition]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

* The Black Engine in ''{{Deathwatch}}'' campaign ''The Emperor Protects''. It's a daemonic entity in the form of a train, which follows rails designed to allow it to become incorporeal and exist outside real-space. In exchange for it's services, transporting psychic individuals so their souls can be drained, it's fed human slaves on every round-trip.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8Ls77-NNY The commercial]] plays it a bit more straight.

* '{{'Metro 2033}}'' has one in the level "Ghosts". The headlights are visible as it heads down the rails, but the train itself (and if you look in the windows, the passengers) can only be seen as a shadow via your flashlight.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* An urban legend on an episode of ''HeyArnold''.
** It turns out to be a train to [[spoiler:a metalworking factory.]]
** [[OrIsIt Or was it really]]?

[[AC:RealLife]]

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