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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#168: Choo Choo!

The concept of train travel has always been a powerful motif in story telling. Train wagons can be a great setting for serendipitous love encounters, like for Jesse and Céline in Before Sunrise, or mysterious murders, like in Agatha Christie's classic Orient Express.

On a train, the mind wanders, time shifts, and life… unfolds. We hope that these train-inspired prompts will put you on the right track to writing some great stories.

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

Middle School – 98 stories

Write a story about a character who is moving on, literally or figuratively.

Narrative – 58 stories

Make a train station an important part of your story.

Narrative – 74 stories

Write a story about a character who misses a train, for better or worse.

Adults – 33 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Bon voyage.”

Adults – 17 stories

Stories

“First Heartbreak” by Lacey Hill

Submitted to Contest #168

Boston explodes into Autumn around us, leaves showing off in shades of flames, and that familiar smell that is uniquely autumn filled the air.Not that I was able to enjoy it.I saw in shades of gray, smells didn’t register to me, and if my surroundings were beautiful in any way, well…let’s just say I was less than receptive. I skipped classes, emailing that I was sick to my professors and ignoring assignments. Called my coaches and faked the flu, getting bed rest orders for the next week.I just wanted to hide.Disappear.The thought of facing p...

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“The Hell Coach” by PETER Inserra

Submitted to Contest #168

I knew the woman was bad news the second she entered the stagecoach. Though, more accurately, I should say I sensed she was bad, the knowing would come later. The horses certainly sensed it and did their best to flee her and the perceived evil that enshrouded her. The driver and his shotgun were able to hold them long enough for her to give them a look which calmed their demeanor faster than a shot of angel dust from old doc Metzger. After shrugging their shoulders at the hors...

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“Hold The Line” by Ellipsis Mark

Submitted to Contest #168

The following is a fictional war story. While there are no detailed descriptions of gore, death is mentioned in both earnest and lite within the text as well as combat. Reader discretion is advised. “Captain, are we going to die?” Lieutenant Smith asked as he surveyed the horizon. “Of course we are Lieutenant.” I inhaled the last of my cigarette, “Every mortal man gets called by Saint Peter sooner or later. It’s the way of the world.” “I meant today, sir.” Lieutenant Smith clarified. “Oh? Yeah. Likely.” I tossed the cigarette aside and sto...

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“All aboard!” by Laura Ethington

Submitted to Contest #168

For what felt like the hundredth time, she battered her hands on the door to the platform. Repeatedly, she heard the sound of an oncoming train but never saw one arrive. Nor had she seen a single passenger, conductor, or anyone at the ticket counter. Had it been hours? A day? The light never seemed to change outside of the train station. She didn’t even remember how she got there. All she could remember was riding her bike back from Mike’s after another mediocre date of pizza, wine, and a rerun of The Office, followed by underwhelm...

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“The last train out” by Nikki Potgieter

Submitted to Contest #168

Mention of hardship, poverty & deathWhen people think of train stations, they tend to think about adventure, about magical far-off places, about a journey. Others (like those of us who are much too neurotic for our own good) think of wrecks, crashes, and all manner of disasters… death. Trains can instantly conjure up images of magic and nostalgia, of wizards and war, of transport and tech. What people seldom think of when imagining a train ride, may be the medley of passengers who wished they were anywhere but there…On the usual morning ...

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“Mystery of Tobias Smith” by Rose Bower

Submitted to Contest #168

Night. 1887, 12th October. Tonight is the night I will run away. Toby is waiting for me at the train station, I will meet him there once I have packed all of my things. I do hope Daddy doesn't wake up, he doesn't approve of Toby, he thinks Toby is a scoundrel and a thief. I do not think of Toby this way, he is charming, handsome, and smart. I love Toby, and I won't let Daddy get in between us. I have finished packing all of my things, and now I am ready to go. I do hope Daddy is asleep, I can hear him rolling over in his bed through the wa...

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“Clarksdale Station” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #168

I heard myself groaning as I glared at my watch for the third time. It was 10:15PM and there was no sign of the 9:55 train coming. This is ridiculous, I thought. Wasn’t standard time developed to ensure trains ran on schedule? As I stood on the boarding platform at Clarksdale Station, my eyes followed the southbound tracks for as far as I could see, but the appearance of an oncoming train was not to be seen. Shit! It was another ten minutes before the lights of the locomotive turned around the bend.As I stepped off the platform and into the ...

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“Tracks To Nowhere ” by Ruby Pix

Submitted to Contest #168

Gathering around a newspaper stand like moths to a flame, is a group of people who believe a rumor about a train that can travel in time. Some people think it's inhabited by spirits that are lost and wandering in between planes of existence. Others believe it is cursed by someone who died a tragic death, by falling onto the train tracks and wanting to move time forward or backward to prevent their death. But there is another rumor. A rumor of how a woman in white leads lost and desperate souls down a path they can never return from. Such new...

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“First They Took the Boys, Then They Took the Men” by Matthew Ployhart

Submitted to Contest #168

The morning was cool, there being a light breeze in the air. However, the sun just coming up over the tree line brought a warmth that found my hands and face. I had to squint every time the sun fell from behind the white clouds, and it had already become an annoyance. A few flies buzzed past my face, and so I tried to blow them away, but they just rebounded back to me and continued to fly around whatever they thought was so interesting. Perhaps I still had some jam on my face from breakfast, or saliva shining on my lips, but whatever it was,...

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“Is This Our Stop? ” by Imelda Michalczyk

Submitted to Contest #168

All that could be heard across the wide concrete expanse of the platform was the ticking. Levon looked up. Why give sound to a clock? The indefinable beauty of the movement of time could not be reduced to the tally of a short, sharp noise. Does sunlight need centimetres? Does outer space require scales? The tick, tick, tick of the station’s clock gave no indication as to which particular second had passed or which specific minute had gone by. No meaningful value to this monotony. Levon closed his weak eye and shot a glare at the loud time ma...

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“Buttter Croissant and Cappuccino ” by Peter Gerber

Submitted to Contest #168

“Ah fuck!” shouted out David as he saw his train depart to Milano without him. ‘Mom? Yes, mom hello?” “Hello darling, is the train full?” “I didn’t make it mother, there was terrible traffic in Zurich. I think those crazy vegans were protesting again’’ ‘’Lord saves us all. What are you going to do now?” ‘’I'll wait for the next one, but I’ll definitely arrive late. Anyways, just wanted to share my sorrows with you.” “Darling, you’ll be fine. Get yourself a nice warm tea and something to eat.” “Ok mother.” “… and make sure to cover yours...

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“Red Flags” by Joyce George-Knight

Submitted to Contest #168

(Sensitive Theme: Dementia) Never before had I thought about life being like a train ride. Twelve rides each year! Sometimes, it’s necessary to get a different perspective on a situation for one to discover a means for coping with it. My story is ending with the caboose on this trip, not necessarily the last one of my life. Over my seven decades of life, thousands of individuals have passed through the cars of my train ride. Some have been repeat travellers, while others had a one-way ticket. Every one of them, however, left their...

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“The Train Wrecked Life” by Kimberly Hawkins

Submitted to Contest #168

Still foggy headed, he rubbed the remnants of sleep from his right eye as he amused himself with what could be. You see, Josh loved to daydream about how his life could be in a parallel universe – since he did not much like the one he was living. He peered out of the train window and saw a green field with many lights and bases… just like he ran as a kid. He was unstoppable on the field. Yes, on the field, he was a winner, but at home… that was a different story. Behind closed doors, his dad would berate him, beat him with a belt, and chas...

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“My First Overnight Train Ride-1959” by M.D. Smith

Submitted to Contest #168

I was eighteen and heading home on the train from Charlottesville, VA to Huntsville, AL, for Thanksgiving, watching the autumn leaves pass. I’d enrolled in the University of Virginia as a freshman, and my father drove up there with me in my ’57 Ford Fairlane and flew Southern Airways back. Too long to drive for a brief holiday, I took the train. Looking out the window, watching the Virginia landscape roll past my window. The song, City of New Orleans, hadn’t been written yet (1970), but the lyrics would describe my first memories well. The...

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“Like Falling Snow” by Gavin Matthew

Submitted to Contest #168

Like Falling Snow Gavin Matthew Cordelia Belle looked out through the train’s window, her forehead and afro pressed lazily against its clean cool surface. Kansa City’s Union Station looked peaceful covered in snow. The morning rays would make an effort to dissolve the blanket of white powder, but the December chill would prove to be too fierce. A cold breeze had warded off all the on-lookers and well-wishers, leaving the station abandoned except for a handful of workers. The blowing gusts made themselves known as they rushed against the wa...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

105

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Oct 21, 2022 EST

Won by David Sweet 🏆

Title: SOUTHBOUND

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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