First, congratulations to TDZ - a lovely story with a wistful, almost dream-like quality. A deserved winner.
Secondly, huge thanks to everyone who voted for me. When I heard I'd reached a tie-break it felt like I'd already won - the final result seemed almost moot. With such stiff competition, to be even in the running is honour enough. Thank you all!
My story was a product of my tendency to shoehorn in a steam train wherever possible (see my '
On a Pale Iron Horse' entry in a previous 300-worder). For some reason, 'urban fantasy' tends to make me think of the grimy, soot-choked brick terraces of 50's and pre-war Britain as opposed to modern big cities - I think China Mieville may be to blame for that.
The theme immediately brought the phrase 'end of the line' to mind, as well as the obvious other kind of end. Thinking of death and trains (as you do), I was reminded of the voyage across the land of the dead that the recently-deceased have to take, from the old video game Grim Fandango - which itself is heavily based on meso-american mythology - and how the travellers needed tickets to do so. Once I figured out whose ticket it was, it all fell into place.
One thing I would have loved to have squeezed in was more descriptive text to get across the 1950s vibe I was going for, but in the end I figured the story worked regardless of the era the reader conjured in their mind's eye.
