Notable examples of railways in fiction include:
Films 3:10 to Yuma (2007), the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard's short story, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. The 39 Steps (1935) – Richard Hannay travels on the Flying Scotsman. The American Friend () (1977), adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel Ripley's Game, features action sequences in the Paris Métro and on a German train. Back to the Future Part III – the improvised method of propelling the time machine to 88 mph in 1885 was by using a steam locomotive. Emmett Brown also refitted a steam locomotive into a hovertrain as the basis of his new time machine. Brief Encounter (1945) – features romantic meetings in a train station. Boxcar Bertha (1972) – starring Barbara Hershey as an orphan who turns to robbing trains for survival. Martin Scorsese's first feature film. The Cassandra Crossing (1976) – passengers aboard a transcontinental train face a threat from carrier of plague virus. Cairo Station (1958) – takes place in a train station. Closely Watched Trains – the story takes places at a railway station in World War II in Czechoslovakia under the Nazi occupation. The film is based on Bohumil Hrabal's novel, directed by Jiří Menzel. Creep (2004) – a killer stalks the London Underground. Dancer in the Dark (2000) – a hypnotic musical number is staged on a slow-moving freight train. The Darjeeling Limited (2007) – a comedy-drama by Wes Anderson that is primarily set aboard a luxury train, the Darjeeling Limited. Death Line (1972) – features a killer on the London Underground. Dil Se.. (1998) – features a fantasy musical number, Chaiyya Chaiyya, staged on a moving Nilgiri Mountain Railway train. Double Indemnity (1944) – a murderer stages a fake accident on a train. Emperor of the North Pole (1973) – a Great Depression-era film about hobos starring Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine. The First Great Train Robbery – based on the Great Gold Robbery of 1855. From Russia with Love – James Bond novel and film, confrontation onboard the Orient Express. The Burning Train (1980) – the plot revolves around a train named Super Express that catches fire on its inaugural run from New Delhi to Mumbai. The General (1926) – A Buster Keaton film about a train engineer during the Civil War, featuring a train crash which cost $42,000, holding the record for the most expensive shot in silent film history. Give My Regards to Broad Street – a day in the life of Paul McCartney. Master tapes to McCartney's new album are stolen. Featuring London Broad Street station. The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1969) – a group of train robbers are chased up and down a local railway line by a group of unruly students from a local school. The Great Train Robbery – an influential 1903 silent film based on a true story, also the title of a modern film. Horror Express – Anglo-Spanish horror film set aboard the Trans-Siberian Express, on which passengers are killed off one by one. The Hunter (1980) – Steve McQueen chases a fugitive onto an elevated train. The Lady Vanishes by Alfred Hitchcock – the majority of the plot takes place on a train heading for England. Men in Black and Men in Black II – starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, has aliens living in the subway. Mission: Impossible – sees a helicopter pursuing a TGV train into the Channel Tunnel which runs between Great Britain and France. In reality this type of train does not travel through the Channel Tunnel, and the tunnel shown in the film has double track whereas the real tunnel has two single bores. Miss Potter – sequences for the film Miss Potter starring Ewan McGregor and Renée Zellweger were filmed at Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Railway. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) – based on the novel by Agatha Christie, starring Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman. Murder, She Said – features extensive railway scenes. Based on the novel 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie. The Narrow Margin (1952) – a deadly game of cat-and-mouse aboard a train. Remade under the same title in 1990. Night Mail (1936) – a documentary film about a mail train's trip from London to Scotland. Night Train (1959) – Polish film by Jerzy Kawalerowicz. North by Northwest (1959) – Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. North West Frontier (1959) – a British army officer transports a young prince to safety aboard an antiquated locomotive. Oh, Mr Porter! (1937) – Will Hay film about an incompetent station master in charge of a near-derelict railway station in Northern Ireland. The Olsen Gang on the Track (1975) – a Danish comedy film directed by Erik Balling and starring Ove Sprogøe. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) – a Spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Leone that deals with a railroad tycoon trying force a widow off her land to make way for his railroad. The Polar Express – a Christmas story about a non-believing young boy and his adventures with Santa Claus. Robbery (1967) – based loosely on the Great Train Robbery. Runaway (2009) – National Film Board of Canada animated comedy short about a runaway train. Runaway Train – escaped convicts on a runaway train. Silver Streak - a passenger train is both the primary set and plays a pivotal part in bringing murderers to justice. Speed (1994) – known mostly for its sequences on a city bus, this film's climax is set on the Los Angeles subway. The Station Agent (2003) – a man who seeks solitude in an abandoned train station in Newfoundland, New Jersey. Strangers on a Train (1951) – Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller. Snowpiercer (2013) – a science fiction post-apocalyptic film directed by Bong Joon Ho about a luxury train that circles around the Earth. Steamboy (2004) – featured extensive railway scenes (including a chase scene between a Midland Railway train, a "steam automotive" and a steam-powered monowheel) around London and Manchester. Terror by Night (1946) – a Sherlock Holmes film, with the story revolving around the theft of a famous diamond aboard a train. Terror Train (1980) – Canadian horror film starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three – 1974 film adapted from the John Godey novel of the same name about the hijacking of a New York subway train. The Taking of Pelham 123 – 2009 remake of the 1974 version of the hijacking of the New York subway train. The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953) – set on a country railway threatened with closure and sabotage by a local bus service. Tourist Train (1933) – comic adventures of travellers on Italian railways. The Train (1964) – French Resistance members try to stop a Nazi colonel from transporting priceless works of art aboard a train to Germany. Train of Events (1949) – revolves around the lives of several people involved in a train crash. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) – sequel of the 1992 film Under Siege about mercenaries who hijacked a passenger train in the Rocky Mountains and ex-Navy SEAL Casey Ryback who tries to stop them. Unstoppable (2010) – tells the story of a runaway freight train and two men who try to stop it. Inspired by the CSX 8888 incident. Volcano – an extension to the subway meets a lava flow. Von Ryan's Express – World War II prisoners of war escape by hijacking their train. The Warriors (1979) – many scenes set in and around the New York City Subway. While You Were Sleeping – stars Sandra Bullock as a subway worker who is mistaken for the fiancée of an injured passenger. Zootopia – an express train and freight train are used by the protagonist, and an abandoned subway car is one of the sites of the climax.
Television Atomic Train – television film (1999) – a runaway train carries an atomic bomb into a town. Chuggington – a British children's animated television series produced by Ludorum plc. Dad's Army – several episodes were set at Walmington-on-Sea railway station or on the local railway line. Digimon Frontier – features several train-like Digimon called Trailmon that run on monorails. Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express – features a train-like Digimon called Locomon that is controlled by another Digimon causing it to run wild on the railways. It later evolves into a meaner-looking Digimon called Grandlocomon. The Flockton Flyer – about a family who work on a heritage railway. Oh, Doctor Beeching! – set on a railway station threatened with closure. Petticoat Junction – set on a rural railway line permanently threatened with closure. Two seasons of Power Rangers, Lightspeed Rescue and Mystic Force, feature train-based Megazords, the Supertrain Megazord and Solar Streak Megazord respectively. They are based on Grand Liner of Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive and Travelion of Mahou Sentai Magiranger respectively. Quatermass and the Pit – building work on the London Underground unearths artefacts from a race of extraterrestrials. Snowpiercer (2020) – A science fiction post-apocalyptic series about a luxury train that circles around the Earth. Supertrain – a television series on a huge luxury double-decker high-speed train. Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends – TV series originated from The Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – anime series featuring a locomotive that runs on steam, transporting villagers escaping from Kabane. Kamen Rider Den-O – features the DenLiner, a train able to travel through time. Ressha Sentai ToQger – Super Sentai series featuring trains. Infinity Train – the primary setting is the titular locomotive, a train with seemingly infinite cars containing fantasy environments in another universe.
Literature 4:50 from Paddington (book; film and TV adaptations) – a Miss Marple story. A passenger on one train is witness to a murder being committed on another train. The Adventure of the Lost Locomotive – a Solar Pons story about a disappearing train on the Great Northern Railway. Anna Karenina (book) – by Leo Tolstoy. Train travel is arguably the most prominent motif of the story. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – features the train the Taggart Comet. The Boundless – a novel by Kenneth Oppel set in a train called the Boundless. "The Celestial Railroad" – short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Choo Choo: The Story of a Little Engine Who Ran Away (book, episode adaptation in Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories) – a children's book by Virginia Lee Burton. The adventures of a beautiful little locomotive who decided to run away from her humdrum duties. Commonwealth Saga – a novel series featuring huge, nuclear-powered trains for interstellar travel (through artificial wormholes). The Dark Tower (book series) by Stephen King – the main character Roland of Gilead travels through a series of caves which were once part of an underground railroad system. The characters also ride on a monorail with artificial intelligence. The Devil's Horse, The Poison Tree and The Abyss in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' The Morland Dynasty series feature the development of steam power and the first railways in Britain. Dreadnought – the third novel in Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series, where the main character rides on a Union war locomotive called the Dreadnought. It is used by the Union to terrorize Confederate rail traffic. It is a warship on rails, with a heavily armored engine, plenty of automated guns, and a complement of troops on board. The Engine Woman’s Light by Laurel Anne Hill – a spirits-meet-steampunk novel about the heroic journey of a young Latina in an alternate 19th-century California, where trains are used to transport undesirables to a dreaded asylum. Freedom Express – the seventh novel in the Wingman series by Mack Maloney features a ten-mile-long super-train that is heavily armored, heavily armed and carries members of the heroic Post-Apocalyptic Badass Army that protects what remains of America.