[Child's laughter]
He's not coming. Did he call you?
No.
Last I heard he was.
Maybe he's grounded again.
Or maybe chickened out on coming alone.
He is afraid of the dark.
Well, he should have called.
[Train engine]
Relax. Not everybody runs on the same schedule
as you.
Cute.
Cool. We're gonna hear a story about trains.
Oh, yeah, but...
That's not all.
[Train sounds stop]
My story's also about wanting something really bad,
so bad it's all you think about.
Nothing else matters.
But when you're finally getting close to it,
where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel,
you've gotta watch out.
Because that light could be on the front of a big old train
barreling straight at you.
You might not have any place to run.
Submitted for the approval of the midnight society,
I call this story...
[Ding ding ding ding]
[Ding ding]
Tim Williamson loved trains
and knew everything about them.
His dad was even a conductor.
Next stop,
Waterloo Station!
Waterloo Station is next!
But Tim's father died,
and since then,
Tim spent more and more time
playing with his model trains in the cellar
and hanging at the Central Station
where he could be around real trains just like his dad.
I go all the way downtown
to sign you up for little league tryouts,
and you don't even show?
I had stuff to do.
Like what? Hang around the train station all day?
Look... you better go tomorrow.
Mom doesn't want you spending all your time down there.
You wanna go to the movies with me and the guys later?
Nah. I'm busy.
Yeah, right!
Watching your little trains go around in a circle?
So? I can do what I want.
But you don't do anything.
And take the cap off. It's too big.
You look stupid.
Dad didn't look stupid in it!
Because he was a real conductor,
not a little twerp like you.
Give it to me! Gimme it!
Great. Thanks.
Hello, Tim.
Who are you?
Ray Lawson's the name.
I'm the conductor on the 713.
Passes by every night,
right here on track number one.
You know the train?
Uh...I don't think so.
You'll learn.
I've had my eye on you.
I see you on these tracks every night.
You wanna be a train man, don't you?
Uh... yeah, I guess.
The 713's due by real soon.
You like the watch?
Every conductor should have a watch.
It's a real beaut, isn't it?
Here... take it.
Then you can be a real conductor,
just like me.
Yo, Tim!
What's keepin' you?
Uh...I was just talking to, um...
Where'd he go?
There was a conductor standing right here.
I take it back.
The Cap's not too big. It's too tight.
It's cutting off your brain.
Hank!
Look alive there, Timothy!
Don't go hurting yourself now.
Whoa!
[Chuckles]
I didn't know which one you wanted,
so I brought all of 'em.
Well, your heart's in the right place, son.
All you gotta do is get your brain there, too.
Cap? You know those tracks
that go by my house?
I know every track inside of 200 miles of here.
Well... is there a 713
that goes over them every night?
Not unless you believe in miracles.
Those tracks haven't had trains
since I was your age.
All them highways and trucks.
No, railroads ain't what they used to be.
Hey, Tim!
We gotta roll. You callin' it?
Go on! Your father was never late.
Don't you go startin'. Go on!
Last call!
1145 to Springfield, aimesview, Wilson's Falls!
All aboard!
Hello.
Hi.
I'm looking for
the young conductor from the train station.
I believe he lives here.
Conductor?
Oh. Tim.
Yeah. What do you want?
Would you please...
Give this to him?
Hey, Tim. There's some guy askin' about ya.
[Train whistle blows]
[Ding ding ding ding]
[Clang clang clang clang clang]
[Whistling]
[Gasps]
A new passenger!
We have a new passenger!
Do you play poker?
You don't know how long
I've been waiting for a new person to play with.
But where's his ticket?
Can't ride a train without a ticket.
Don't you know that?
Uh...I don't have a ticket.
Tim's a conductor.
Conductor doesn't need a ticket.
Hello, Tim.
Glad to have ya aboard!
And we're right on time, too.
First time I saw you,
I knew you'd make a great conductor.
What's going on? Who are you people?
Oh, you'll get used to these folks.
You'll have to.
They're your responsibility now.
What?!
Here's your watch.
A conductor's gotta have a watch.
What are you doing?
Don't touch that!
[Ding ding ding ding]
All aboard!
There were all these weird people,
and I pulled the emergency brake,
and I think I got knocked out,
'cause next thing I'm in the cellar!
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Come up for air!
You all right?
Yeah. Yeah. I think so.
It's just, at first I thought I was dreaming, but--
Well, maybe you were.
No, I wasn't.
It really happened.
What was it, Cap?
Well...
Coulda been nothin'.
Coulda been imagination.
Maybe coulda been...
Train magic.
What's train magic?
Well, depends on how you see, Timothy.
See, most people look at trains,
they don't see nothin' but big old machines.
Train's got more than that.
Train's got its own language:
Sound of wheel on metal,
the sharp whistle,
the pure song of the bell.
You see, that's the train speakin'
if you know how to listen.
Nothin' has more train magic
than a conductor's watch...
'Cause a railroad depends on time.
Without time,
nothing on the line works right.
Ray Lawson wanted me to take his watch.
Ray Lawson?
Why'd you come up with that name?
That's the name of the conductor on the train.
That's him! That's the conductor!
Who is he? Do you know him?
I know of him.
In the old days
before radios,
do you know how conductors got their messages?
No.
Station operators left them on poles beside the tracks,
and conductors had to reach out a hand and grab it
as the train went by.
Pretty ancient.
Ha ha ha ha.
I suppose so.
Anyway, there's a story I always heard
from the old-timers
about a night they were working on the tracks
not so far from here.
So they sent out a message to the conductor on the 713
to change tracks.
See, that's hard work back then.
The train had to stop.
The conductor got out and changed the switch himself.
Anyway, this conductor
got sent a message to change over at switch 224.
What happened?
Forgot to check his watch.
Fell asleep.
He never got the message.
Never changed the switch.
Train crashed.
A lot of folks died, including the conductor.
Ray Lawson.
But I saw him.
When they dug his body outta the wreck,
he still had the watch in his hand.
Lid wasn't even open.
Cap, that switch 224--
that's on the tracks by my house!
The train crashed near my house, didn't it?
Go on home now. It ain't natural,
a kid your age hanging around here all the time.
Play baseball or video thingamajigs!
But Cap, we're friends!
Aw, get goin'. Go on!
Get goin'!
And stay away from trains! You hear me?
Ray Lawson?
You must be Cap.
Don't matter who I am.
Leave the boy alone!
Get on your ghost train and go.
Can't do that.
[Train whistle blows]
I've gotta keep the schedule.
I told you to leave the boy a--
Time to board, Cap.
I don't need any more passengers,
but you can help bring me a new conductor.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
All aboard!
[Train whistle blows]
Ha ha ha ha!
Cap! No!
Don't do it!
Zebo's just in.
Let's play.
Hey, yo!
You're gettin' real close to the deep end there, bro.
Cap.
What about him?
Look.
Yeah. Cute. So what?
Look! That's him! He's in the train!
[Laughs] Hey, you're right.
Funny, last time I saw him,
he was a little bigger.
Hey, Cap, still hanging with my screwy little brother?
This isn't a joke!
Yeah, the only joke here is you, you little--
How'd you do that?
I didn't.
Well, who did?
Train magic.
[Clock tolls]
7:13!
The 713 just left the station!
W-what's goin' on?
Hank, I know you think I'm crazy,
and maybe I am, but you gotta help me!
Forget it. You're beyond help, lame wad.
I mean it! If we don't, Cap is gonna die,
and who knows what'll happen to me?
Would you listen to yourself?
You're cracking up!
You gotta get out of this basement.
Dad is gone, Tim. This isn't gonna bring him back.
[Sighs]
Look, I'm just worried about you.
If you're really worried about me,
you'd help me.
You're serious.
Please, Hank?
All right, Timmy. What do you want me to do?
[Sighs]
I don't know who's crazier,
him or me.
Hasn't been a train here in 50 years.
I'm telling Mom.
We gotta put him away.
He needs professional help.
[Ding ding ding ding ding]
[Clang clang clang clang clang]
He's back!
The boy is back!
Cap!
Cap, where are you?
'Bout time you came back.
I'm getting fed up with playing solitaire.
He has his ticket this time, I assume.
Cap!
Well, of course he has his ticket.
Cap.
Cap!
Wake up. Come on!
[Train whistle]
No way.
I disconnected it.
[Train approaches]
[Whistle blows]
Holy--
Come on!
You didn't think I'd make the same mistake twice.
Out of my way. Sit down.
He doesn't have a ticket!
He doesn't need a ticket.
Well, I won't be needing that anymore.
You love trains,
don't ya?
Well, now you're gonna get one all your own.
Just a few more seconds.
713 crashed 80 years ago,
and it's been doing it ever since...
Right on time.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
[Whistle blows]
I made one mistake!
I've been trapped ever since.
It doesn't matter,
because this time, I'll be gone.
Here you are, my boy.
Train's gotta have a conductor.
And a conductor's gotta have...
A watch.
[Whispers] Finally!
Take good care of my--
excuse me-- your train.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
It's train magic, Timothy,
the most powerful kind.
Ray Lawson!
This is not my train!
And we're getting off.
What are you doing?
No!
[Train whistle fades]
Hey!
What was that?
The 713! You switched it to track 2
like the conductor was supposed to 80 years ago!
What conductor?
That one.
Cap: He doesn't have a train anymore,
and he has no watch.
He has nothing but these old tracks
and the night.
Train magic.
You boys best be gettin' on home.
Cap? I don't think I'm gonna be
coming around to the station for a while.
That's good, Timothy.
Maybe I'll stop by
and watch you play some baseball.
What just happened here?
I think I just got rid of a couple of ghosts.
So Tim learned about 2 kinds of magic:
Train magic...
And the kind of magic that happens
between brothers...
And friends.
[Train whistle]
Good story.
I declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed.
Captioned by Grant Brown