Here in Chicago, trains are just about as un-sexy as it gets. We ride them to work every day, through rush hours, terrible weather, foul odors and all kinds of awkward encounters, and we can’t be blamed for having a little bit of train fatigue.
But the creative world has been writing trains into books, films, songs and more for a long time, and, as evidenced by this week’s release of the best-seller-to-movie adaptation “The Girl on the Train,” it doesn’t look like they’re stopping any time soon. Next time you’re bored with the Red Line, just think of one of these famous trains (or train-featuring works) instead.
1896: “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station,” a black-and-white silent film, debuts in France. Legend has it that people were so unaccustomed to moving pictures that the crowd ran to the back of the theater in fright upon seeing the train coming toward them on-screen, but scholars today are doubtful that’s true.
1903: The silent film “The Great Train Robbery” premieres. Though just 11ish minutes long, it’s today considered groundbreaking, the first to use several now ubiquitous filmmaking techniques and the first American action film. You’ve probably seen a re-creation or two of its iconic final shot, in which the central baddie fires his pistol straight at the camera.
1924: Rand McNally publishes Gertrude C. Warner’s “The Box-Car Children,” a story about four orphaned children who set up house in an abandoned boxcar in the woods. (Way cooler than a treehouse, right?) A few decades later, the book evolves into the beloved children’s adventure/mystery series that now has more than 100 titles.
1930: Though versions of the story and its key phrases had already been appearing for a few decades, the most well-known version of the children’s classic “The Little Engine that Could” is published in the U.S. this year. Say it with us: “I think I can!”
1934: Agatha Christie publishes “Murder on the Orient Express,” a mystery about a killing that’s far more complicated than it first seems. Over the years, it’s followed by multiple film and TV adaptations—look for a Kenneth Branagh-directed one in late 2017 starring Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leslie Odom Jr. and Branagh himself.
1945: Thomas the Tank Engine, who has been gracing TV screens in “Thomas & Friends” since 1984, is introduced to the world in a series of stories by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry, who originally made them up to keep his young son entertained through a bout of measles.
1951: Warner Bros. releases Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train,” about, well, two strangers who meet on a train and talk about “trading murders,” each killing someone the other wants to get rid of. Reviews at the time are mixed, but all these years later it sits at a solid 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
1970: “Soul Train,” a musical variety show featuring R&B, soul and hip-hop artists, debuts on Chicago’s WCIU. It goes on to be one of the longest-running first-run, nationally syndicated programs in American television history, finally ending in 2006.
1973: Gladys Knight and the Pips release their recording of “Midnight Train to Georgia,” a soulful, romantic song of broken dreams and determined love that brings them one of their first Grammys.
1973: John Wayne, King of Westerns, stars in “The Train Robbers,” which is advertised with a poster carrying the following amazing tagline: “Cursed gold, a vanished train and a thief’s widow. He’d do better walking into hell!”
1980: Ozzy Osbourne releases his first post-Black Sabbath solo single, “Crazy Train.”
1981: Journey releases “Don’t Stop Believin’,” launching a million late-night sing-alongs about small-town girls and city boys taking “the midnight train goin’ anywhere.”
1985: Chris Van Allsburg’s Christmas classic “The Polar Express” is published for the first time, reminding children everywhere of the importance of believing. A film adaptation follows in 2004, starring a very creepy animated Tom Hanks and Josh Groban’s warbly Oscar-nominated tune “Believe.”
1985: In “Runaway Train,” two convicts get more than they bargained for when the brakes of the train they’re escaping on are destroyed, and Danny Trejo (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Spy Kids,” not-Marcia in that “Brady Bunch” Snickers commercial) makes his film debut.
1987: Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue covers the 1960s hit “The Loco-Motion,” giving roller rink and wedding DJs everywhere something new to play when the floor is looking a bit too empty.
1987: Steve Martin and John Candy take whatever means necessary to get home for Thanksgiving, including an ill-fated train through Missouri, in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
1990: J.K. Rowling rides a crowded train to London after a day of apartment hunting, and along the way the idea for the “Harry Potter” series pops into her head. She begins writing the first book that very evening.
1995: Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) meet and strike up a romance on a train from Budapest in “Before Sunrise,” the first film in Richard Linklater’s sentimental trilogy.
1996: Danny Boyle takes filmgoers inside the dark world of heroin addiction with “Trainspotting,” which also introduces international audiences to Ewan McGregor. A sequel is due out next spring.
1998: Train releases their self-titled debut album, which contains their first big hit, “Meet Virginia.” Later songs include lyrics about soy lattes, an “untrimmed chest” and other weird things, but, suspiciously, very few trains.
2002: Joss Whedon’s space western “Firefly” debuts on Fox, not with its intended pilot but with an action-packed new episode called “The Train Job.” The show gets canceled after 11 episodes, and the out-of-order airing is cited as one of the reasons for its demise.
2007: In the Wes Anderson dram-com “The Darjeeling Limited,” three brothers (played by Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman) attempt to bond after the death of their father by riding through India on the titular train.
2012: Jason Aldean releases his fifth studio album, “Night Train,” which contains a title track that actually manages to make going to “listen to the night train” sound like a romantic date. (Disclaimer: If you invite someone to go listen to the 12:30 a.m. Metra and you get rejected, it is not our fault.)
2013: “Snowpiercer” rolls into theaters, presenting a new and fairly bonkers take on post-apocalyptic society in which all that remains of humanity lives on the massive, class-segregated, world-circling eponymous train.
2015: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, LeBron James and more question whether monogamy is real in “Trainwreck.”
2015: Paula Hawkins’ thriller novel “The Girl on the Train” is published, eventually selling millions of copies and forever changing just how carefully readers look out the windows during their commute. The movie adaptation starring Emily Blunt hits theaters Friday.
@gauxmargaux | mhenquinet@redeyechicago.com
