| “ | "As long as the real boy is in Dream Land, there's no tunnel, and I'm the only train who can deliver dreams. My kind of dreams! Scary, creepy dreams!" | „ |
| ~ The Nightmare Train revealing his true colors |
The Nightmare Train is the main antagonist of The Little Engine That Could (2011). He is voiced by Ray Porter, who also played Count Grisham in The Scarecrow, Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck in Monk, Hestler Jones in Justified, and Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Biography[]
Near the top of Dream Mountain containing old train tracks connecting Dream Land to the Real World, Little Engine is immobilized when her water tank goes empty after springing a leak. A dark gray train suddenly appears out of nowhere and offers to take the toys and Richard (the real boy) to the Real World on Little Engine's behalf, which she accepts. However, once they are inside his middle boxcar, the black locomotive reveals himself as the Nightmare Train, having tricked Little Engine. He reveals his true intentions to keep Richard and the toys in Dream Land to keep the tunnel closed and halt the delivery of good dreams, so that the only dreams that could be delivered were his nightmares. Little Engine demands him to let her friends go, only for the Nightmare Train to shove her off the tracks, leaving her derailed. Fortunately, Little Engine refills her tank from a nearby water tower and jumps a cliff to land on a stretch of tracks below to chase after the Nightmare Train and rescue Richard and the toys.
Inside the Nightmare Train, Richard and the toys suffer hallucinations of their biggest fears. After standing up to the illusions of his school bullies, Richard falls off the Nightmare Train after a failed attempt to uncouple the boxcars and is reunited with Little Engine. When the Nightmare Train confronts them, the toys free themselves. The Nightmare Train is eventually defeated when Richard pulls a lever to switch the tracks after he begins to pursue Little Engine, sending him barreling down the mountain at high speed.
During the film's end credits, the Nightmare Train is shown at the bottom of a snowbank, probably having jumped the tracks because of Little Engine and her trick.
Personality[]
As his name implies, the Nightmare Train is a very frightening and malevolent engine that has a strong desire to deliver nightmares to anyone. He exhibits an extremely manipulative and deceitful personality, as he deceives Little Engine into giving him the toys and Richard. He is also shown to be outwitted by Little Engine, as he takes a wrong track.
Appearance[]
The Nightmare Train is a large, dark gray, anthropomorphic 0-6-4 steam locomotive with three smokestacks, no tender, and creepy yellow eyes with red pupils, pulling a train of three rickety old wooden boxcars and a rickety old wooden caboose at the end. As soon as he has the toys and Richard in his possession, his appearance changes into a more frightening form with his cowcatcher forming his mouth and other bestial features like his whistle and pistons. He's got a whistle, as well as a diesel horn.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Although the Cave is (kind of) the main antagonist of The Little Engine That Could (1991), the Nightmare Train appears to be a more evil villain, having bigger plans, more screentime, and turning out to be more dangerous than his predecessor. The Cave is mostly a neutral character since he appeared to be the fear of the mind of the 1991 film's main protagonist Tillie.
- Despite having a whistle, the Nightmare Train also has a diesel horn, something that isn't common for steam locomotives.
- Despite being the main antagonist of the film, the Nightmare Train has approximately 3-5 minutes of screentime.
- The Nightmare Train is named Cerberus for having three funnels on his smokebox by some fans.
- The Nightmare Train appears to be based on Pere Marquette 1225, which is also the basis of the locomotive from The Polar Express.