Make a train station an important part of your story.

Posted in Narrative on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 74 stories

“The Impulse” by Daniel Tress

Submitted to Contest #168

Dan’s an odd friend of mine. My only friend, actually. He always shows up when I need him most. Only I can never say exactly what I needed him for nor how he knew to find me. All I know is that grinning face of an old friend and his reassurance that everything will be A-OK. See, Dan takes me away and back again on his old black iron horse. And it costs me nothing. Nothing but my willingness to step up and go.I was nine years old when I first met Dan. One minute, I’d been tossing in bed, trying to sleep (something that’s never seemed to come ...

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“The Man at the Station” by Elizabeth Burrows

Submitted to Contest #168

By the time I stepped off the train that evening there were angry dark clouds hanging from the sky. They bathed the world in their dark color and dipped so close to the earth that I felt all I had to do was reach up to touch their silky smooth pummels. Clouds of dark colors that now are nothing more than a memory. A moment in time that will forever be engraved in my mind. A day that will never be forgotten, details that will eternally be remembered. It was the day I first saw him. He stood there hunched over with hands in his pocket...

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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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“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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“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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“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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“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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“Affairs in Order” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #168

Colin Tolbert was a man who kept his affairs in order. It was a lesson his father taught him as a boy. Constantly reminded of his father’s golden rule when he shadowed his father in the fields, the apple orchard and the barn. Amos, his father, told him to keep his affairs in order, because you never know when the good Lord will knock on your door. Be ready for that hour, because you never know when He will come for you. His father’s hour came after a long illness. In his final chapter, there were loose ends tha...

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“From NYC to Boston” by Sacha C.-V.

Submitted to Contest #168

Grand Central station. 12:02pm. Her train is in ten minutes. She’s waiting on the platform of her train to Boston. She’s worried and anxious. She’s biting her lips. She doesn’t see her lover. He should already be there. Her train is in nine minutes. Now in eight minutes. She’s passionately in love with him. She doesn’t know if their relationship will last long… She needed passion. Now she has it. It’s been two months the both of them. She’s feeling great. She loves the smell of his skin, the sensation when she touches him. She gets on the tr...

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“The necklace” by Dao Huy Kien

Submitted to Contest #168

The platform that afternoon was as busy as other afternoons. Everybody was in a bustle with luggage. Some people ascended the trains, some descended from them, nobody wanted to stay long at the platform except a young couple. “Remember to send me your letters, my love!” said the girl. “Uh-huh”, replied the young man. “You have to write every week, to let me know if you still love me”. “Okay, I have to go now”. The young man did not want to see his girlfriend’s gloomy face and reply to her endless words. He was not in a mood for a farewell as...

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“Luck and Love” by Devin Bates

Submitted to Contest #168

Love is a gamble. There are times it turns out well, living a life of fulfillment and pleasure, and there are times you lose every penny you own and the house in the divorce. But when it came to the Valdez women and love, they had exceptionally terrible luck when rolling the dice. That didn’t stop Mel Valdez from developing the biggest crush on Jack Brunson that had ever existed in the history of unrequited high school love. When she spotted him across the hall in freshman year: his olive skin, big brown eyes, beautiful dark hair, and...

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“A Metaphor” by Nolan Pieper

Submitted to Contest #168

Leaves wisp by in a crescendo, swirling and dancing through the cool evening air. Far removed from any city or town sits a train station. This is the station at the end of the line. Countless tracks lead into its terminals, and only one leads out. No one knows how to get there or even how they got there, but everyone ends up there. The platform is empty except for a small boy sitting on a bench accompanied only by the dancing leaves. He is counting the bricks, one by one, that are interwoven amongst the platform. The leaves whirl around his ...

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Make a train station an important part of your story.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 74 stories

“The Impulse” by Daniel Tress

“The Man at the Station” by Elizabeth Burrows

“Is This Our Stop? ” by Imelda Michalczyk

“Mystery of Tobias Smith” by Rose Bower

“Clarksdale Station” by Howard Seeley

“Hold The Line” by Ellipsis Mark

“Tracks To Nowhere ” by Ruby Pix

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

“All aboard!” by Laura Ethington

“The last train out” by Nikki Potgieter

“Affairs in Order” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

“From NYC to Boston” by Sacha C.-V.

“The necklace” by Dao Huy Kien

“Luck and Love” by Devin Bates

“A Metaphor” by Nolan Pieper

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone looking out a train window.

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

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

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

Contest #168

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

105

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: