The film stars William Collier, Jr. as Bruce Harrington, Sally Blane as Carolyn Nolan and Hobart Bosworth as Mr.

'Smokey' Nolan ( J. Farrell MacDonald) drives his locomotive at full speed when he spies an oncoming train directly in his path.

He quickly applies the emergency brakes, causing the train to derail when it tries to stop; as a result; several passengers are killed.

The CEO of the Southwest Pacific Railroad, Mr. Harrington (Hobart Bosworth), has a playboy son Bruce ( William Collier, Jr.).

Bruce arrives as his father prepares to sign and exposes the plot by the rival railroad, including how the purchasers constructed a piece of equipment and disguised it like an engine with headlights.

The main theme of the plot bears a close similarity to The Ghost Train (play), a movie version of which was produced in England the previous year, viz.

There was a prior silent American film also entitled The Phantom Express (1925), which may also have been influenced although uncredited by the original play.