Railroad Index

https://mediaproxy.tvtropes.org/width/350/https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trainsimulator.png

This tiny index is a collection of any and all tropes related in any way to railroads, as well as any works featuring railroads.

Not to Be Confused with Railroading or Underground Railroad.

All Aboard!

Tropes:

Afterlife Express: The main characters are being taken via train to a place after they die.
Cars Without Tires Are Trains: Cars are able to drive on railroad tracks when they don't have their tires on.
Chained to a Railway: A character (often a Damsel in Distress) is tied up to the tracks and left to die.
The Chikan: Men on crowded trains act very inappropriate with women.
Cool Train: A locomotive (fictional or real life) gives off an impressive appearance.
Dingy Trainside Apartment: A character lives in a dilapidated apartment next to a railway line.
Ghost Train: A train from beyond the afterlife (usually the ghost of a wrecked train from long ago) appears to haunt the tracks.
Handcar Pursuit: The characters attempt to chase after their quarry using a handcar.
High-Speed Train Reroute: A character is able to get a train to switch tracks to avoid danger at the last second.
Hobos: Inextricably link to the US rail network and 'riding the rails'.
Just Train Wrong: Writers with scenes involving trains get a fact about them inaccurate.
Locomotive Level: A video game level involving a train of some sort.
Multi-Track Drifting: Trains somehow end up on multiple tracks at once.
Off Bridge, onto Vehicle: Someone who's on the run jumps off a bridge at the right time so that they land on a passing vehicle, in this case a train, and escape.
Orient Express: The famed European passenger train that is often used in fictional works.
Painted Tunnel, Real Train: A character paints a tunnel to trick their target, but a vehicle (often a train) randomly appears as if it was a real tunnel.
Racing the Train: A character attempts to catch up with (or beat) a train.
Rail Enthusiast: A person who loves trains.
Rail-Car Separation: A train's carriages are uncoupled in mid-transit.
Railroad Baron: The often unscrupulous and morally shady head of a railroad empire.
Railroad Employee Roundhouse: The various characters behind the scenes of day-to-day railroad operations.
Railroad Plot: A story where a railroad tries to use its influence to expand, only to get blocked by something and use dirty means to get their way.
Railroad to Horizon: The tracks lead over the horizon to end a scene or story.
Railroad Tracks of Doom: Any time the characters approach train tracks, a train appears to ram them down.
Runaway Train: A train loses its brakes and barrels out of control.
Sinister Subway: The subway system looks rather creepy and often nightmarish.
Steam Never Dies: Despite the plot being set in the modern era, steam locomotives are still in everyday use.
"Strangers on a Train"-Plot Murder: Random characters who don't know each other get caught up in a murder mystery.
Subways Suck: Subway systems are depicted as grimy, dirty, vandalism-heavy rats nests.
Thriller on the Express: A luxury train suddenly becomes a hot-spot for an intriguing thriller.
Track Trouble: A train derails thanks to the tracks being sabotaged or damaged.
Train Escape: Characters use trains to disappear and avoid pursuit.
Train Job: The characters attempt to rob a train of high-value contents.
Train Problem: A common math question where a character is forced to determine where two trains operating at opposite speeds will pass each other.
Train Song: A song involving a train, railroad, locomotive, or other aspect of railroads.
Train-Station Goodbye: A romantic couple (typically) says their goodbyes as one of them boards a departing train.
Trainstopping: A character forcibly brings a train to a stop with their own strength.
Traintop Battle: The characters come to blows on the top of a train.
Vehicle-Roof Body Disposal (a train is often used for this)
Wagon Train to the Stars: Trains that flies through space!