Train Station Goodbye: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

''Cause I'm already gone..."''|'''[[The Fray]]''' "Vienna" }}

 

 

The two [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] are saying goodbye at the Train Station: who knows if they will ever see each other again. As Train starts to pull out of the station, the lover staying behind runs alongside to keep his lover in view as long as possible, while the lover on the train either leans out the window or is pressed up against the glass.

 

See Also [[Airplane of Love]]. In a modern American context, this is an [[Undead Horse Trope|Undead Trope]], as railroads have decayed in favor of short-hop plane flights and the automobile. It's more frequent in Japanese and European media, where trains remain a vital mode of transportation.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Allison and Lillia]]'' plays this trope ''almost'' entirely straight (with it being a literal [[Tear Jerker]]), though it's subverted a scene (and 15-year [[Time Skip]]) later.

* ''[[5 Centimeters Per Second]]'' has this as one of its many pivotal moments, because it's {{spoiler|one of the last times Tohno sees Akari before they permanently part ways.}} It's made even stronger since {{spoiler|it was after the first time they shared a kiss, and spent the whole night catching up and reminiscing, snowed in in an old shack.}}

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' plays with and subverts this several times between Edward and Winry, {{spoiler|finally playing it straight in the finale.}}

* This comes up at the end of both ''[[Galaxy Express 999]]'' movies.

* The [[Satoshi Kon]] movie ''[[Millennium Actress]]'' has Chiyoko chasing the mysterious artist to the train station just as the train pulls away.

* Both played straight and subverted in [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] - Touji and Kensuke show up to say their farewells to Shinji, but Misato's arrival at the very last minute causes Shinji to change his mind.

* The anime and manga series ''[[Victorian Romance Emma]]'' uses the 'just too late' variant when Emma leaves London and William chases her to the station.

* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', Ami says goodbye to Ryou this way. Later subverted with Rei and Yuichirou: {{spoiler|the train turns out to be a [[Monster of the Week]]}}. Oddly, the actual example (given that Ryou barely appears again from that point) is very light-hearted in tone, while the subversion is a real [[Tear Jerker]] episode complete with appropriate [[Crowning Music of Awesome]].

* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', {{spoiler|following the events at the Nimbasa Ferris Wheel,}} White decides to take on the Battle Subway to learn how to fight. White says her goodbyes to Black from the train window, who muses all that they've done together and how he'll win the League for the sake of both their dreams. Yes, he does end up running after the train while it goes off, but somehow manages to hurl the Pokeball with his Braviary inside to her so that she has three Pokemon to challenge the Subway with.

 

* ''[[Casablanca]]'', of course. Although it's a [[Subverted Trope]], because no one was waiting for Rick at the station.

** Halfway-subverted: Rick is expecting Ilsa at the station, but in the end all he gets is a note saying she loves him but cannot come with him.

* Occurred in ''Les parapluies de Cherbourg''.

* ''[[Miss Potter]].'' Beatrix Potter is on the train; her beloved is chasing it and catching pneumonia in the process.

* In ''[[The Namesake (film)|The Namesake]]'' film based on the book, this is messed with viciously. Gogol(now Nikhil) and Moushumi are about to go on a train to see Gogol's parents. Gogol then finds out about Moushumi's affair with her high school sweetheart. Gogol turns away from her in the train station and Moushumi walks away, embarrassed.

* Inverted in ''[[Safety Last]]''. The movie opens with a scene that appears to show Harold about to be hanged while his family bids goodbye from behind the bars. Then the camera angle shifts and it turns out that it is actually a train station.

* Another parody occurs in ''[[Young Frankenstein]]'', with Madeline Kahn getting caught in the departing train's steam/smoke and coughing her lungs out.

* ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'', when she goes off to Queens College. "She'll be gone so long, she'll get terrible lonesome".

* Used in the film [[The Secret in Their Eyes]], which finds the protagonist's lover chasing the train down the platform, even though they've already exchanged "I love you"'s.

* Parodied in [[Airplane!]] in the beginning, with the taxiing plane as the train.

* In ''[[Closely Watched Trains]]'', the main character is about to kiss his love interest who's on the last car of a train. The train starts moving before their lips can touch.

* In ''[[The Journey of Natty Gann]],'' Natty and Harry have a touching farewell at the bus station, including a kiss, when Harry leaves for California to work while Natty stays in Washington to look for her father. The movie leaves it open-ended as to whether or not they're likely to see each other again, although Natty is shown writing a letter to Harry before the ending.

* In ''[[Carry On Girls]]'', Peter Potter is leaving on a train to Fircombe to help promote a beauty contest. His girl, Paula Perkins, doesn't know about the beauty contest, and is there to see him off. She gets miffed when all the pretty girls are also boarding the train. When the train lurches off, Peter manages to tear the top of one girl down, while Paula is still watching.

* 1925 silent film classic ''[[The Big Parade]]'' features a Troop Transport Goodbye, in which the hero has to leave his pretty French girlfriend when his regiment is called up to the front. It's a different vehicle but otherwise the trope is played perfectly straight.

* In ''[[I Love You Phillip Morris]]'' Phillip runs through the prison and out into the prison "garden" to chase after the prison bus Steven was on and they promise they'll see each other again. Steven drops the title of the film in the process.

 

== Literature ==

* Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit had this happen with tragic consequences in [[Real Life]]. Her parents objected to her engagement and insisted she leave with them for the country to wait 6 months to "test" if these feelings were strong enough. Her fiance saw her off at the train station while it was raining. He caught pneumonia. Then he died.

* Spoofed in the [[Sven Hassel]] war novel "Comrades of War" when [[Dumb Muscle]] Tiny falls in love with [[Battleaxe Nurse]] Emma. As the train is leaving for the Russian front, he leans out the window shouting that he'll put in for medical leave so he can see her again, only to get hit in the head by a passing pole, whereupon he shouts gleefully, "See, I've got a skull fracture!"

* [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]] song "Last Train to Clarksville"

* "Love in Vain" by [[Robert Johnson]] ([[Covered Up]] by [[The Rolling Stones]]).

* The video for Cyndi Lauper's ''Time After Time'' features one at the end.

 

== Web Comics ==

* [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/16/ Parodied] by [[Penny Arcade]].

* ''Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal'' [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1278#comic did it too.]

 

[[Category:Love Tropes]]

[[Category:Rule of Romantic]]