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{{title dab away}}
{{real world}}
{{real world}}
{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|image          = Ghost Train.jpg
|image          = Ghost Train.jpg
|range          = BBCTWAB
|range          = BBCTWAB
Line 12: Line 12:
|featuring4      = Ruth (Meat)
|featuring4      = Ruth (Meat)
|featuring5      = Mandy (Risk Assessment)
|featuring5      = Mandy (Risk Assessment)
|enemy          =
|enemy          = [[Station manager (Ghost Train)|Station manager]]
|setting        = [[Cardiff]], [[February]] [[2009]]
|setting        = [[Cardiff]], [[February]] [[2009]]
|writer          = [[James Goss]]
|writer          = James Goss
|read by        = [[Kai Owen]]
|read by        = [[Kai Owen]]
|producer        =  
|producer        =  
|post production =  
|post production =  
|publisher      = BBC Audio
|publisher      = BBC Audio
|release date    = [[7 March (releases)|7 March]] [[2011 (releases)|2011]]
|release date    = 7 March 2011
|format          = 2 CDs
|format          = 2 CDs
|production code =  
|production code =  
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|clip            = Torchwood Ghost Train
|clip            = Torchwood Ghost Train
|epcount        = 2
|epcount        = 2
}}{{audio stub}}
}}{{you may|Ghost Train (comic story)|n1=the comic story}}
{{you may|Ghost Train (comic story)|n1=the comic story}}
'''''Ghost Train''''' was the sixth release of the ''[[BBC Torchwood audio stories]]''.
'''''Ghost Train''''' was the sixth release of the ''[[BBC Torchwood audio stories]]''.


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A number of [[fridge]]s mysteriously vanish from [[Harwood's Haulage|Harwood's]] [[lorry|lorries]] and [[Rhys Williams|Rhys]], suspecting [[alien]]s or [[the Rift]], asks [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] to look into it, but he instead decides to investigate by himself given her apparent lack of interest and being busy with [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]]. He plots the drivers' routes and the locations that the missing fridges were last seen on a [[map]], forming an arrow pointing at [[Queen Street station]]. He finds nothing there, however, and notices that a delivery slip he has with him has inexplicably changed to read "Powell knows". Returning to Harwood's, [[Ruth (Meat)|Ruth]] tells him that a Mr Powell has [[Darren (Ghost Train)|Darren]] collect boxes from Queen Street late at night.
A number of [[fridge]]s mysteriously vanish from [[Harwood's Haulage|Harwood's]] [[lorry|lorries]] and [[Rhys Williams|Rhys]], suspecting [[alien]]s or [[the Rift]], asks [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] to look into it, but he instead decides to investigate by himself given her apparent lack of interest and being busy with [[Torchwood Three|Torchwood]]. He plots the drivers' routes and the locations that the missing fridges were last seen on a [[map]], forming an arrow pointing at [[Queen Street station]]. He finds nothing there, however, and notices that a delivery slip he has with him has inexplicably changed to read "Powell knows". Returning to Harwood's, [[Ruth (Meat)|Ruth]] tells him that a Mr Powell has [[Darren (Ghost Train)|Darren]] collect boxes from Queen Street late at night.


Rhys briefly sees Gwen at home before she heads back with Jack to join [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]] in combating a series of biblical [[plague]]s spreading from [[Penarth]] to [[Splott]]. Despite the police calling for people to remain in their homes, Rhys goes to Queen Street at eleven at night to meet Mr Powell and is directed to transport him and several [[box]]es from a [[steam engine]] to an industrial estate. He tells Gwen everything when he gets home, but he realises that she is an impostor just before the real Gwen bursts in and shoots her, explaining that she was [[assassin (Ghost Train)|a shapeshifting assassin]] taregting Torchwood.
Rhys briefly sees Gwen at home before she heads back with Jack to join [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]] in combating a series of biblical [[plague]]s spreading from [[Penarth]] to [[Splott]]. Despite the police calling for people to remain in their homes, Rhys goes to Queen Street at eleven at night to meet Mr Powell and is directed to transport him and several [[box]]es from a [[steam engine]] to an industrial estate. He tells Gwen everything when he gets home, but he realises that she is an impostor just before the real Gwen bursts in and shoots her, explaining that she was a shapeshifting assassin targeting Torchwood. In the morning, Ianto bursts in and takes Gwen to go and find the missing Jack and Rhys sees crowds of doubles of Mr Powell standing in the streets.


''to be completed''
Researching the midnight train at Queen Street, Rhys learns of a train that went missing on the way to [[Grangetown]] in [[1951]] and which had been driven by a Mr Powell. The Powells follow him to Queen Street and Gwen and Ianto arrive with guns, telling him to run as they race to the platform where the train has just arrived. The station explodes with [[light]] and Rhys finds a note on his [[van]] informing him that he has gone back in time to the night before and must take the ghost train to avoid meeting his past self. He finds Jack tied up in a carriage and learns that something is fighting through the [[Rift Manipulator]] to arrive in Cardiff, causing time to fall apart and allowing it to build a railway through the Rift.
 
Rhys and Jack throw one of two Powells aboard the train into the Rift and alight at a copy of Grangetown station where they find the [[skeleton]] of the original Mr Powell, holding a box like the ones that Rhys transported. The voice of the station manager, a [[computer]] built by the people of a [[colony world]] to run its transport systems, explains that Mr Powell and his train came through the Rift and that it copied him and built more trains. Following Mr Powell's death, it had the Powells transport it in pieces to Cardiff where it is being reassembled and started stabilising the Rift, inadvertently creating a route for whatever destroyed the colony world to travel to [[Earth]]. Rhys and Jack take the box onto the train and they speed away from a fireball of demons.
 
Pushed from the train by Jack, Rhys finds himself at Queen Street two weeks in the past and visits Ianto at the Hub on Jack's orders, telling him about parts of the future without mentioning his and Gwen's apparent deaths. Ianto tells him that he will have to ensure the future by stealing the fridges to lead himself to Queen Street and leaving himself notes. He does so by sabotaging [[traffic light]]s and sneaking into work, staying at [[Ianto Jones's flat|Ianto's flat]] to avoid his past self and Gwen, and directs the Powells to Harwood's when they arrive. Over the course of two weeks, he and the unquestioning Darren transport boxes and Powells to one of Ianto's storage facilities.
 
A shapeshifting assassin takes on Ianto's form and gives itself away by kissing Rhys, who incapacitates him and learns that the assassins have come to destroy Torchwood as they believe them to be responsible for the Rift's stabilisation. He persuades the Powells to stand around on the first day of their [[invasion]] rather than integrating themselves into society and tries to keep Gwen and Ianto from going to Queen Street, but Gwen assumes that he is an assassin and tasers him. He manages to chase them into the station, however, and they survive the explosion of light that is caused when Jack crashes the train into the Powells. Jack wires the computer into the traffic lights and he and Ianto return the missing fridges.


== Characters ==
== Characters ==
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* [[Derek (Ghost Train)|Derek]]
* [[Derek (Ghost Train)|Derek]]
* [[Lewis (Ghost Train)|Lewis]]
* [[Lewis (Ghost Train)|Lewis]]
* [[Assassin (Ghost Train)|Assassin]]
* [[Powell (Ghost Train)|Powell]]
* [[Gwen Cooper (shapeshifting assassin)|"Gwen Cooper"]]
* [[Ianto Jones (shapeshifting assassin)|"Ianto Jones"]]
* [[Bernard (Ghost Train)|Bernard]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
* [[Mandy (Risk Assessment)|Mandy]] mentions [[Columbo]].
* [[Mandy (Risk Assessment)|Mandy]] mentions [[Columbo]].
* There is a [[Spar]] opposite [[Queen Street station]].
* There is a [[Spar (shop)|Spar]] opposite [[Queen Street station]].
* The train to [[Radyr]] leaves from Platform 3.
* The train to [[Radyr]] leaves from Platform 3.
* Mandy puts [[sweetener]] in her [[tea]].
* Mandy puts [[sweetener]] in her [[tea]].
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* Rhys makes [[spaghetti bolognese]].
* Rhys makes [[spaghetti bolognese]].
* Rhys thinks about [[Andy McNab]].
* Rhys thinks about [[Andy McNab]].
* Rhys listens to [[Red Dragon FM]].
* Rhys and Gwen pay [[council tax]].
* Mandy plays [[FarmVille]].
* [[Facebook]], [[Google]] and [[Wikipedia]] are all mentioned.
* [[Facebook]], [[Google]] and [[Wikipedia]] are all mentioned.
* Rhys mentions [[Hogwarts]].
* [[Ikea]] is in [[Grangetown]].
* Rhys likes [[roller coaster]]s.
* An [[Asda]] is blown up.
* [[Rhys Williams's aunt|Rhys's aunt]] had a [[café]].
* Jack and Gwen walk past a [[Turkish (food)|Turkish]] restaurant in [[Cardiff Bay]].
* Rhys uses the [[invisible lift]].
* Ianto has a [[calendar]] of [[Rio Ferdinand]].
* Rhys and Ianto eat [[pizza]].
* Ianto lives in [[Ianto Jones's flat|a flat]].
* Rhys loves [[Jeremy Kyle]].
* The [[Fear of Despair]] makes people miserable through [[radio]] and [[television]].
* Rhys makes a [[pie]].
* Rhys once promised to go with Gwen to [[DFS]] to buy a new [[sofa]].
* Rhys once threw Gwen a surprise [[birthday party]]. She was not pleased.


== Notes ==
== Notes ==

Latest revision as of 00:27, 22 October 2024

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for the comic story.

Ghost Train was the sixth release of the BBC Torchwood audio stories.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

It's not easy being Rhys Williams. You're married to the sexiest woman in Torchwood. She saves the world for a living, you move lorries round in a timely fashion.

Suddenly, you've got a mystery of your own. Oh, it starts off being about missing fridges. But it leads to a midnight train pulling into an abandoned platform at Cardiff Station. What is the mysterious cargo that Rhys is unloading from the train? Where's it going? And what can be behind it?

Rhys Williams is going to get to the bottom of it. All by himself, thank you very much. Soon Captain Jack is missing, his wife's dead, and it's up to Rhys to try and put everything right. And find those fridges...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

A number of fridges mysteriously vanish from Harwood's lorries and Rhys, suspecting aliens or the Rift, asks Gwen to look into it, but he instead decides to investigate by himself given her apparent lack of interest and being busy with Torchwood. He plots the drivers' routes and the locations that the missing fridges were last seen on a map, forming an arrow pointing at Queen Street station. He finds nothing there, however, and notices that a delivery slip he has with him has inexplicably changed to read "Powell knows". Returning to Harwood's, Ruth tells him that a Mr Powell has Darren collect boxes from Queen Street late at night.

Rhys briefly sees Gwen at home before she heads back with Jack to join Ianto in combating a series of biblical plagues spreading from Penarth to Splott. Despite the police calling for people to remain in their homes, Rhys goes to Queen Street at eleven at night to meet Mr Powell and is directed to transport him and several boxes from a steam engine to an industrial estate. He tells Gwen everything when he gets home, but he realises that she is an impostor just before the real Gwen bursts in and shoots her, explaining that she was a shapeshifting assassin targeting Torchwood. In the morning, Ianto bursts in and takes Gwen to go and find the missing Jack and Rhys sees crowds of doubles of Mr Powell standing in the streets.

Researching the midnight train at Queen Street, Rhys learns of a train that went missing on the way to Grangetown in 1951 and which had been driven by a Mr Powell. The Powells follow him to Queen Street and Gwen and Ianto arrive with guns, telling him to run as they race to the platform where the train has just arrived. The station explodes with light and Rhys finds a note on his van informing him that he has gone back in time to the night before and must take the ghost train to avoid meeting his past self. He finds Jack tied up in a carriage and learns that something is fighting through the Rift Manipulator to arrive in Cardiff, causing time to fall apart and allowing it to build a railway through the Rift.

Rhys and Jack throw one of two Powells aboard the train into the Rift and alight at a copy of Grangetown station where they find the skeleton of the original Mr Powell, holding a box like the ones that Rhys transported. The voice of the station manager, a computer built by the people of a colony world to run its transport systems, explains that Mr Powell and his train came through the Rift and that it copied him and built more trains. Following Mr Powell's death, it had the Powells transport it in pieces to Cardiff where it is being reassembled and started stabilising the Rift, inadvertently creating a route for whatever destroyed the colony world to travel to Earth. Rhys and Jack take the box onto the train and they speed away from a fireball of demons.

Pushed from the train by Jack, Rhys finds himself at Queen Street two weeks in the past and visits Ianto at the Hub on Jack's orders, telling him about parts of the future without mentioning his and Gwen's apparent deaths. Ianto tells him that he will have to ensure the future by stealing the fridges to lead himself to Queen Street and leaving himself notes. He does so by sabotaging traffic lights and sneaking into work, staying at Ianto's flat to avoid his past self and Gwen, and directs the Powells to Harwood's when they arrive. Over the course of two weeks, he and the unquestioning Darren transport boxes and Powells to one of Ianto's storage facilities.

A shapeshifting assassin takes on Ianto's form and gives itself away by kissing Rhys, who incapacitates him and learns that the assassins have come to destroy Torchwood as they believe them to be responsible for the Rift's stabilisation. He persuades the Powells to stand around on the first day of their invasion rather than integrating themselves into society and tries to keep Gwen and Ianto from going to Queen Street, but Gwen assumes that he is an assassin and tasers him. He manages to chase them into the station, however, and they survive the explosion of light that is caused when Jack crashes the train into the Powells. Jack wires the computer into the traffic lights and he and Ianto return the missing fridges.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The story is told in first person by Rhys.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

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