Earlier today, my cousin who is big into horror movies, and I were kicking around the idea of a zombie appocolypse story, set in the 1930s on board the Broadway Limited. I like to write short stories in my spare time and thought I’d take a stab at it.
Here’s what I’m thinking: the Broadway begins it’s journey as normal. But then between the change from electric to steam at Harrisburg and the stop at Altoona, the train loses all contact with the dispatcher. At Altoona, the train is nearly swarmed by zombies and the engineer opens the throttle and pulls away. Meanwhile the passengers and crew debate what to do and try to see how long they can survive on the train.
What do you guys think? Assuming there were no zombies on the train, should the engineer just try to keep moving? Or would he have stopped when contact with the dispatcher was lost? Any ideas are appreciated. I’d. Imago on the Pennsy main line would defend into chaos fairly quickly in that situation.
Have you ever met a zombie? Why are the zombies swarming the train? What do the zombies want? Do the zombies communicate? How? What contact does a crew in the 1930’s have with the dispatcher anyway? I thought it was all by “flimsies,” written train orders. Or do you mean that the position light signals suddenliy start showing wierd and unusual and nonsensical displays, maybe with dancing and flickering lights lights? And all of a sudden the power switches’ points start clicking back and forth. And the platform lighting turns a ghastly green , while the lights inside the station turn pink. And a big smile appears on the face of the moon.
I’m not familiar with the PRR’s traffic control systems, but modern CTC lines typically use wayside or cab signals to grant movement authority to trains. If the train continued to get clear signals, then sure, keep moving (perhaps the zombies in Altoona were an isolated outbreak and other cities are safe). If signals show stop, I find it hard to imagine a railroader moving the train at anything faster than restricted speed, and maybe not at all if it means passing an absolute signal towards a possible cornfield meet.
At the time you have chosen I do not believe there was any voice contact between the train and the DS. The line was dispatched by communication with block offices, which IIRC the PRR called cabins. If the DS wanted something other than a straight run, he told the block operator what he wanted and the operator lined the switches and set the signals. In short your “trigger” is unrealistic. Not that unrealistic has never happened in a movie.
I would keep it simple and simply have the Zombies swarm the train somewhere, or better, have gotten on in NYC. Zombies on a train is not much of a problem, so long as the train is moving. I would expect trainmen having Zombies on their train would both fight, remember the axes behind glass, and throw off a message at the next cabin. Problem is how to prevent the next stop.
I think it was the TV program Omnibus which “followed” the Broadway on a light panel west of Horseshoe Curve.one night. The point of the program I don’t remember except maybe to give the PRR equal time after riding to Harmon aboard a NYC S1 pulling the Twentieth Century Ltd. a few programs earlier. But in the 30’s trains were dispatched centrally with towers and operators every few miles to control interlockings and OS (on station) report the time of the passing of each train to the dispatcher…usually done in groups of passings rather than immediately one at a time except in special circumstances. Cab signals were in use on many roads back then, too, but I’m not sure of the PRR and the divisions which might have had them. As for Zombies, can’t tell as I wasn’t born yet.
Are the zombies trying to rescue their comrades that are shackled to the wall in the RRPO car? Or are they merely NIMBY zombies trying to petition for silent grade crossings? Since it’s a railroad movie, you need to introduce some plot zingers to entertain the (“expert”) foamers, such as air brakes that function improperly or have the trains destination to be a connection with Union Pacific where neither railroad goes such as Michigan’s upper peninsula, or key west. You know something the keep the know-it-alls on their toes.
I don’t know how to move the story along, but I know how to finish it. As the train moves through western Pennsylvania the passengers and crew yell out to the locals that zombies are good to eat and the season closes TOMORROW!
Too bad you cannot place this story in western North Carolina. Then it could be on the Southern RR branch to Brevard, NC thru Transylvania county ? ? MAY have had passenger service then for the vaction trade. ? ?
Now, now, he wants zombies, not vampires, in his movie. I think both zombies and vampires would want to stay away from Lake Toxaway, where the Methodists had their conference grounds.
Why do the zombies swarm the train? Suppose everything is fine on the train until the change from electricity to steam, and then something happens…slowly. Slowly, the passengers turn into zombies, as the train crews fights off the zombies and tries to discover what is causing passengers to turn into zombies. Meanwhile the train crewmembers keep a wary eye on each other, wondering when, or if, their coworkers will turn into zombies…
There has to be a compelling reason why the train can’t be stopped until all the zombies are dealt with…
*The only way for the passenger crew to get word of the zombies to the head end crew would be to drop messages to a station, asking that the info be telegraphed ahead to keep the line open…
*How many times do they have to drop the messages before someone gets the word out that something is terribly wrong
*Given the time frame, could this morph into an event like the War of the Worlds radio broadcast?
*Why this train? Why now? Where is it headed? Is it the train from hell? Is this the basis for a country song? Enquiring minds want to know.
To keep such a movie mercifully short, have the zombies swarm the train anywhere you want them to, kill everyone, and we can all go home.
For a lamentably longer movie, the zombies could understand the signals and get the somewhat dull engineer to obey his signals, despite his best instincts. Then, the zombies could swarm the train, kill everyone, and we can all go home.
For a somewhat longer movie, regrettably, the camera could show the train hogged by a zombie [ SURPRISE!!], he takes the train onto a siding at a famous place, the zombies swarm the train, kill everyone, and we can all go home.
I’m thinking that this is set in the middle of the winter. The zombie apocalypse is actually the third trick car department, in heavy clothing, stumbling out into the cold night to add a helper for the climb over the curve. Probably a crew out there to clean the fire on that K4s, too. Quite the crowd! As for the engineer simply pulling away, he’s got blue flags hanging from the armrest and the outbound crew waiting for him to climb down. Better just go home and try not to wake up Mrs. Zombie!
Replace the zombies with gorgeous dancing girls… make all the crew and passengers super good looking and you’ve got yourself a nice story that can be turned into a musical.
I’m not into the whole zombie thing, but hey - it’s the seed of an idea. Keep your eras straight and build some suspense and intrique into the story, and you might have something you can sell.
A lot of stories have a really simple premise, it’s how you get from the introduction, through the “rising action,” past the climax, and to the denouement that makes it all interesting.
Too bad the Pennsy didn’t have water scoops to pickup water on the fly. Zombies swarm the track pan then get washed away by the water spray. Another thought, someone wanted to murder a party on the train. Poisoned the food while the chef was trying a new recipe. Instead the combination turned into a zombie antidote and now they have to race to Chicago with the cure. And don’t forget the part about the annnouncement of zombie hunting season. Forelock what would they do in Ohio? And don’t forget the FEMA baggage cars with holding chains.(skip this too new of a conspiracy) And don’t forget the obligatory and gratuitous violence scene of a K-4 plowing thru a crowd of zombies attempting to derail the train with zombies with body parts flying!! One other special the passengers build a pumpkin throwing machine to strke the zombies down. And inadvertently start a pumpkin chunking contest. What else, they discover a shipment of coffins in the baggage car. Oh yes and the Barry Manilow CD it causes the zombies heads to explode when played backwards. And a scene of Bela Lugosi looking fearsome so you can have a star on the headline. Have fun Thc IGN