Make a train station an important part of your story.

Posted in Narrative on Nov 1, 2022

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✍️ 74 stories

“Unless” by Bryan Johnson

Submitted to Contest #168

The train station was dead silent. The daytime activities of coffee vendors, families rushing to get to their trains and the sounds of roaring train engines were that of an older time. The only sound that echoed throughout the empty station was that of a clock posted by the arrivals and departures. The board appeared empty, all except for one departure. Shelby looked at his pocket watch he dug out from his vest pocket. 11:50pm. He glanced up at the departure board. “10 minutes. Guess it’s time.” Shelby grabbed his suitcase and...

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“Until the Next Stop” by Andrew Andrews

Submitted to Contest #168

══════════════════ Part 1: Just Until the Next Song ══════════════════ Is it wrong to hold onto you so dearly? Kissing in a room full of strangers. Are you a stranger, too? If you told me your name? And am I? If I told you mine? Kissing underneath the disco lights, with a girl I met 10 songs ago. Your hair smells so nice. Your skin’s so soft, so clean. And God--you flick your tongue so good. I leaned in close with the sway of the beat, our cheeks grazing. And back out again, just to look into your eyes...

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“Discovering His Real Station” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #168

Discovering His Real Station The colder winter weather had arrived a few weeks early this November in South Amboy, New Jersey. Yet, Sam B...

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“Shanhtih Station” by Michael Mackenzie

Submitted to Contest #168

Douglas Jones walked off the train, flicked his scarf around his neck, and pretended not to notice the man across the platform staring at him. Mountains loomed over the station. The trees ached in the cold wind. The only light came from flickering lamp posts behind the benches on the platform. He sat on the bench. The clock hanging from the station read 12:06am. He cursed himself for missing his stop, but after another long night of balance sheets at the office, and for a man pushing seventy, falling asleep on the train had become a r...

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“A Baysie Boy. ” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #168

Zane stood on the train platform. Six o'clock, long summer hot evening. He has some smokes, and a six pack of bourbon and cokes. Nice and chilled. He had lived in Baysie, a dull suburban wasteland. It was like a desert of empty shops and closed cafes, bounded by a freeway and a railway line. Baysie station was the end of the rail tracks. He clambered aboard the train to the Big City. He was finished with Baysie, leaving it all behind. He was going, finally. No more dole money, no more pregnant girlfriend, or his fighting family. Zane was tu...

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“Changing times” by John Berry

Submitted to Contest #168

Georgia lands at Heathrow Airport after a 14 hour flight from Sydney Australia. She wore a hat to help cover her bushy hair from getting into her face. “Can you tell me where the Plaza Hotel is?” she asked the man at the paper stand on the pavement. They sold books, coffee, newspapers, lollies and lots of other things. He couldn’t understand what she was saying. The assistant understood her accent said that she could take a right then a left at the next street. “Thank you, young man.” She grabbed a copy of the London Times and asked for a ho...

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“A Strange Wedding Guest” by Charlett Bundy

Submitted to Contest #168

I’m so excited. I just left my fiancé after a wonderful weekend visit. He dropped me off at the train station to catch the next train home where I have been working and saving money for our wedding for the last 8 months. Now, there is only one more month to the wedding. I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself, yet hunger has caught my attention this bright, sunny morning. This lovely train station has been remodeled to resemble the original train station from the 1800s. Now though, there are several places to eat. I set my suitcase down...

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“Lapland Express” by Marguerite Falck

Submitted to Contest #168

The boy in carriage 7Did you know that there are two direct trains from Stockholm to Lapland every day?The landscape is ever changing, as long as we are talking about shades of grey.Looking out of the windows you will see Arlanda, Uppsala, Boden and Umea,all the way to the northern coasts and read houses of the arctic circle in Luleå.As he looked through the window, watching the lakes and cities pass by,he felt that he was living his own life behind as well, and with this, a high.All the spreadsheets and errors messages and system cataloging...

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“Street Creatures ” by Karen Lethlean

Submitted to Contest #168

Street creatures. You know it’s not the best way. You never should have left the people walk-way. Now you’re no closer to home and light is beginning to fade out of honeycomb colored sky. Not just blue anymore, more likely a dirty through to flint grey, or shades of dull brown blending into shadowed gold when late afternoon sunlight almost breaks through festered warned air. Now you must get to the station. Wait here for a while in this shelter to catch your breath, harder now to fight through thickness. You need to make ready because you c...

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“Sidhe” by Chen-el Brill

Submitted to Contest #168

They held each other’s eyes across the platform, and her inviting gaze unchained his heart to race violently in his chest.“Oh oh!!” panic now swooped in as she finally broke the eye contact.“The train to… Sacramento… will be arriving in platform number… one… at… twelve… and… ten minutes, all passengers are required to stand behind the yellow line”. The mechanical voice of the omnipresent lady reverberated through the empty train station.But this metallic voice, usually so warm and comforting, for it was the herald of the upcoming sleep, was ...

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“What if?” by L Key

Submitted to Contest #168

“You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that.”Ronald Dahl ***There are three hundred and fifty thousand trains on Earth. Picture it, if you can. Each one in motion, whizzing around our globe, climbing hills and crossing bridges, wheels spinning as they thunder forward (or backward, depending on the direction you’re sitting) to reach a final destination. Perhaps that destination is the grand streets of Paris, a remote town on the coast of Ireland that nobody has heard of, or the bustling city of New Delhi. So tell me,...

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“From My Booth, Cherry Peak” by Joe St Vincent

Submitted to Contest #168

From my booth, I can see Cherry Peak among the hills. This morning, Cherry Peak is covered in a light mist, so I cannot see it. I wait for the sun to break the mist, checking occasionally. Guests begin to arrive before the sun crests, and it is cold, autumn. And from my booth I watch them. A tight-lipped woman passes me on the way to wait for the third car to Buxton. She knows where she is going and does not need a ticket, so does not stop at my booth. She is the third to arrive at the platform that morning, earlier than usual. The fourth an...

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“The Last Train” by Niki Hatzidis

Submitted to Contest #168

We made it to the platform three days ago. It was already packed and with only two trains coming each day it took us two of those three days to make into the old station. The trouble was that there hasn’t been a train since yesterday morning and people were beginning to grow fearful and restless. There were a lot of refugees that were claiming the train would never come. Others planned to keep walking if only to give themselves a chance to look for food or clean water. Others just sobbed where they had made a makeshift shelter. This might ha...

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“Living Memories” by Olea MacDonald

Submitted to Contest #168

My deceased grandmother was sitting right there in front of me on a train station bench in New York City. The first time this happened I nearly fell backwards onto the tracks, but that was almost a year ago now. I had just moved to New York to escape my hometown and my parents. My first week here I had managed to consume more ramen than any one person should in their entire life, but it was cheap and I didn't have a job and could barely afford rent. By some miracle Mrs Jean, my current day boss, took a chance on a dirty, unwilling, and lazy ...

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“The Guilty One” by Drew Herron

Submitted to Contest #168

The man sprinted through the empty subway station. It being mid-winter did nothing to prevent sweat from pouring down his back and soaking into his cotton dress shirt. The leather messenger bag jumped around at his waist, tugging at his shoulder as he ran. He scanned his MetroCard and resumed his race against the train. His loafers smacking the tile floor echoed through the empty halls. He turned a corner and saw his train stopped at the platform with its doors open. The automated voice saying “Beware of closing doors” called throughout the ...

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Make a train station an important part of your story.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 74 stories

“Unless” by Bryan Johnson

“Until the Next Stop” by Andrew Andrews

“Discovering His Real Station” by Bob Faszczewski

“Shanhtih Station” by Michael Mackenzie

“A Baysie Boy. ” by Julie Grenness

“Changing times” by John Berry

“A Strange Wedding Guest” by Charlett Bundy

“Lapland Express” by Marguerite Falck

“Street Creatures ” by Karen Lethlean

“Sidhe” by Chen-el Brill

“What if?” by L Key

“From My Booth, Cherry Peak” by Joe St Vincent

“The Last Train” by Niki Hatzidis

“Living Memories” by Olea MacDonald

“The Guilty One” by Drew Herron

🌟 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: