Other films that use the train as the harbinger of destruction include High Noon, Jesse James, and even Blazing Saddles. Action movies love many forms of transport for the sense of speed and excitement they give to the viewer, and the train is no exception — why punch someone on the ground when you can punch them on the roof of a carriage? Why run after them when you can hurtle towards a ravine where the tracks are looking decidedly dodgy?

In fact, why stick with one form of transport at all? Mission: Impossible combined trains with helicopters, Priest combined trains with motorcycles. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade and Madagascar 3 have the decision to combine train journeys and circus equipment in common.

With the rise of the superhero movie came the subversion of the classic unstoppable train. Now they can be stopped — by someone who is better than your boring standard human.

In Unbreakable , the first sign that David Dunn Bruce Willis is not your average American comes not when he prevents a devastating train wreck, but walks away from one without a scratch. The idea allows the film to step outside of the superhero stricture and feel a new kind of tension — will this hero choose to be all he can be?

Just as the hero steps out of the mould, so does the villain and the plot. More than the train is being derailed here. No director has used the image of a train as a symbol of sex and danger so effectively as Hitchcock. The phallic imagery of a train going into a tunnel as a representation of the sexual act appears at the end of North By Northwest , which also uses the dining car as a setting for a sizzling exchange between Roger O Thornhill Cary Grant and Eve Kendall Eva Marie Saint.

They flirt and feint with a sophistication that suits this stylish thriller of assumed identities. Hitchcock knew that a train journey separates us from our everyday reality and presents us with the opportunity to take on different roles and act in unexpected ways, heightening the suspense. Identities can change in the course of a single journey. That along with the recent train horns sounding in the distance, which has suddenly begun in the last few weeks here — our nearest Amtrak train station is about 8 miles from the house — has gotten my attention.

I have found the sound of the train, as it passes through, igniting an excitement and warmth inside causing me to pause and take it in. Being someone who keeps conscious vigil on what is going on inside and around me, I have understood the trains also messaging me. Indeed, a new journey is in sight, as I continue to ride out the rest of this year. Some of the elements of my dream I remember included being on a very large train that had three levels.

I had my own sleeper car that was at the bottom level and I remember going up winding stairs to the other levels and that everything was dark, but warm, inviting, and exciting. Somehow I was in a parallel reality, layered over the one happening simultaneously, so it had a magickal feel to it, similar to how The Polar Express weaves dream and reality together with the train being that bridge.

I knew that the train symbolized a journey — my journey — and the constant, shifting and evolving journey of life, but I was interested in delving further into more meaning, so I began researching to see what I could find. And a lot I did, which I thought you might enjoy reading about, if in fact trains have or are showing up for you, in some way. Sometimes even, journeying into a new relationship — with self, another, business partner, etc. It can also indicate a journey into a new facet of your life that entails a new destiny.

I find my being in a sleeper car on the train to be comforting, as for me, it indicates my always feeling at home where ever I am, or am led. Since the train is a mode of transportation controlled by someone other than yourself unless you dream yourself as the engineer , it can symbolize a powerful force guiding you, which you may either feel flowingly aligned in trusting, or for some, you might feel you have no control and that can cause anxiety.

They say that if the train in your dream crashes, this may symbolize a force that is less beneficial — no crashing in my dream! And definitely seeing the end to contracts with others and myself, as I wrote in my year-end post :. This is all done. I would suggest that Mansfield intentionally uses the symbol of the train journey at the beginning of the narrative to demonstrate the emotional gulf between the husband and wife , a state which is shown to be highlighted if they spend time in too close proximity to each other.

Alice Munro is another short story writer who likes to make heavy symbolic use of them. To enter into a heterotopia is akin to going through a fantasy portal even when the story is not speculative in nature. This gives a sort of Groundhog Day vibe to a story, before an author switches readers to the singulative but on this particular day….

Two young lovers ride a train, falling more and more in love as their journey progresses. She describes how the train smells — wet india-rubber and soot. We really do feel transported to the era of steam engines.

What about the train thread in this story? First, the sexe en plein air near the tracks, between Nita and Rich. Later, the train reappears and now it is a symbol of fate. I walked the railway track.

Never seen a train. I walked all the way to here and never seen a train. There was nothing she could do to stop him. This fate was set in place the moment she started the affair with Rich. And even that was probably fate. It demonstrates perfectly the way in which trains signify the passage of time. By around the halfway point the scenery has shaken ff all evidence of the city, all evidence, really, of the past century or two.

The kind that encourages belief in the myth of uncomplicated lives. We tend to personify vehicles, so the sight of a heavy train making its way up a hill can be a gratifying sight. Even when the socioeconomic division is not implied, a railway line does function as a noisy, dangerous but necessary presence which runs through town, bringing inhabitants to a standstill whenever it rumbles through. Trains make good settings for murder mysteries for a number of reasons.

The game Cluedo works with the same advantage: a limited set of suspects. This is called a locked-room mystery. With a train we also have a ticking clock device, because the train will eventually reach its destination and the murderer will then have the opportunity to walk away free.

In The Highland Falcon Thief: Adventures on Trains 1 , a middle-grade series starter from MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman, a young boy is swept up in an investigation to uncover the perpetrator of a jewel theft. When eleven-year-old Harrison Hal Beck is forced to accompany his travel-writer uncle on the last journey of a royal train, he expects a boring trip spent away from video games and children his age. But then Hal spots a girl who should not be on board, and he quickly makes friends with the stowaway, Lenny.

In this second book of the middle-grade Adventures on Trains series, amateur sleuth Hal Beck travels to the U. Hal mostly keeps to himself on the trip, feeling homesick and out of place in America.

But he soon finds himself drawn into another mystery when the young daughter of a billionaire tech entrepreneur goes missing! Feel free to embark on an adventure as it will have a very positive outcome. You will meet some new people and make very nice friendships, which can be very high quality. Also, the aspect of passengers in trains is very important for the understanding of the spiritual meaning of trains.

It suggests that someone will throw you out of step in the coming period. Try to stay calm and do not let someone cause you ugly emotions and stress that negatively affects your health.

Repairing trains can mean trying to correct some mistakes you have made in your past. You have probably inadvertently and, out of ignorance, hurt someone and are now trying to redeem yourself. That person certainly recognizes your qualities and is very likely to forgive your mistake. You are the one who knows how much effort and work you put in, and you should not ask for confirmation from others. Speaking of the spiritual meaning of trains and passengers in it, this idea means that you will have the opportunity to make some new acquaintances and business contacts that will be of great use to you in the near future.

Try to get the most out of everything and to expand your views. You can never know how much someone new can open up your views, leading you toward a more spiritual part of life. In the end, trains say a lot about us — it might mean that you will experience or you have experienced a business downturn. It is possible that the company you run is either in bankruptcy or is already on the verge of bankruptcy due to bad business steps. Try to do your best to avoid this discomfort.