Plot
When the Midnight Express from Trenton, New Jersey pulled into Grand Central Station, a supernatural event followed. The tracks sprang to life and a ghost in old railroad engineer's garb manifested. Bystanders panicked and fled. The ghost flew through the train and shattered its windows, but when he reached the cabin and saw the modern control panel, he howled in frustration.
At the firehouse, Peter was absorbed in his new deluxe train set until it rammed into Egon's foot. Peter had spent all day building the layout and brushed off Egon's attempts to get his attention. Slimer wanted to play too, and when Peter refused, Slimer ate the train. A call from Grand Central interrupted Peter's outrage. At the station an old security guard told the team he thought he had seen the ghost of a "railroad man," possibly Casey Jones, and the Ghostbusters split up. Peter told Winston that Casey Jones was involved in the most famous wreck in railroad history. Spotting a working steam locomotive, an odd sight in the 1980s, on a nearby track, Peter ran to board it.
Egon and Ray found Casey humming off key over a cup of coffee in the break room. They opened fire, but Casey slipped out through the double doors, and following his readings to the ticket counter left the two buried in a pile of tickets. Peter, playing inside the locomotive cabin, found an engineer's hat and put it on, which made him a target for an enraged Casey Jones. Casey bound Peter inside the cabin and started up the engine. Winston gave chase, but the train sped off. Casey forced Peter to serve as his fireman, feeding the steam engine's fire.
As the train crossed into New Jersey, the rest of the team pursued in Ecto-1, trying to board it. Ray's plan to drop onto the train from an overpass failed when the cars did not line up as expected and the guys landed on the track. Ecto-1 nearly drove into the Delaware River before crashing through a "Welcome to Pennsylvania" sign. An attempt to block the track with the car ended with them pulling away just before the train barreled through. Ray finally used a track ramp to launch onto the last car. Casey confronted them but was briefly left behind when the train entered a tunnel, giving the team a chance to trap him as Peter burned his last coal.
With Casey trapped, the runaway train was now on a collision course with an oncoming Amtrak train running ahead of schedule. The throttle snapped off in Ray's hand. Peter realized what Casey had been trying to do and opened the trap. Casey flew out and threw the switch to divert the train onto another track, and the two trains narrowly missed each other. Peter explained that Casey had been trying to right the mistakes of his life by preventing a wreck and saving lives. Egon called it a lucky guess, and Peter agreed. Casey waved goodbye and faded away as the sun rose.
Casey Jones
Casey Jones, also referred to in the episode as John Luthor Jones, is the ghost of the legendary railroad engineer who died in the most famous train wreck in American history. The real John Luther "Casey" Jones was killed on April 30, 1900, when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train near Vaughan, Mississippi. In the show, his ghost manifests at Grand Central Station in the 1980s, frustrated to find modern trains he cannot understand.
As a ghost, Casey retains his living personality: he is intensely demanding of his crew, insists on running ahead of schedule no matter what, and has a fondness for heavily caffeinated drinks and sugary food. He hums off key and is prone to sudden, violent outbursts of frustration. His PKE reading registers as a "strong" signature. He is semi-corporeal during the confrontation, capable of physically interacting with the Ghostbusters while still phasing through doors.
His motivation is not malice but guilt: he wants to prevent the kind of wreck that defined his death, and once Peter gives him the chance, he willingly pulls the track switch to save the Amtrak passengers before dispersing in peace.
Greg Burson provides Casey's guest voice. In the DVD collection introduction to the episode, co-writer Michael Edens confirms he was directly inspired by the legend of John Luther "Casey" Jones of West Tennessee.
Casey Jones later appears, in a visual reference, in the IDW Publishing comic series: in Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #5, the Phantom Train Conductor is visually based on him, and Peter explicitly invokes the name.
Trivia
Casey Jones is loosely based on the real American railroad engineer of the same name, remembered for a famous fatal train wreck. While hauling coal, Peter sings "Sixteen Tons," a song about the life of a coal miner, and "Wabash Cannonball," about a fictional late nineteenth century train. Aboard the cab he also mentions Asbury Park, a city on the New Jersey shore. The episode's action moves through New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The engine is a 4-4-0, or American type, steam locomotive pulling a coal tender, a coach, a boxcar, and a flatcar, with no caboose. The 4-4-0 was the most common wheel arrangement on American railroads in the 1800s. Peter owns a matching model of the same wheel arrangement in his train set at the firehouse.
Peter's fondness for trains is given backstory here: he has loved trains since childhood, dreamed of driving a big locomotive, and studied engineering in college for two years before discovering it had nothing to do with trains.
Janine does not appear, since Peter answers the firehouse phone himself.
The episode was recorded on October 17, 1986, and its call sheet misspells "Oblivion" as "Oblivian."2 In the script, the ending had Slimer playing with Peter's train in the firehouse lobby.4
Animation Errors
Just before Casey Jones grabs him in the railroad yard, Peter is shown standing with Ray rather than Winston, reversing where each character was established to be at that moment.
While playing with his toy train in the firehouse lobby, Peter is briefly shown wearing his Ghostbusters uniform rather than his civilian clothes.
References
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Eatock, James and Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 18. CPT Holdings, Inc.
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Marsha Goodman (1986). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report, "Last Train to Oblivion" (1986).
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Per the Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report for "Last Train to Oblivion," Laura Summer is credited for walla only, not as part of the cast for the actual recording of the episode.
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Edens, Mark and Edens, Michael (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Two Disc Five, p. 35. CPT Holdings, Inc.
