The Ghost Train

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This article is about the play. For other uses, see Ghost train (disambiguation)

The Ghost Train is a British play, written in 1923 by Arnold Ridley, who much later played Private Godfrey in Dad's Army. It was first produced at the Eltinge Theater^[1].

Ridley was inspired to write the play after becoming stranded overnight at Mangotsfield railway station in Bristol, a now disused station on the Midland Railway main line. The plot of the play revolves around a party of passengers who find themselves stranded in the waiting room of an isolated station. The station master tries to get them to leave citing the local legend of a ghost train that dooms all who see it to death. It is revealed later in the plot that the train is in fact smuggling arms and the story has been concocted to frighten away strangers. The play was very unusual for its time in using elaborate special-effects to simulate a train running through the station; garden-rollers running over wooden lats, thunder sheets etc. Ridley later wrote a sequel called The Wrecker, which ends in a rail crash using similarly spectacular special effects, but it was not a great success.

The Ghost Train became a staple of the British theatre for many years.

[edit] Film versions

There was a film version made in 1931 starring comedian Jack Hulbert, of which five reels of picture and two reels of soundtrack survive. It was remade in 1941, starring Arthur Askey, with the story updated to the Second World War.

The 1937 Will Hay comedy Oh, Mr Porter! is loosely based on the plot of this play.