Dusk-lit Carriage

The Dusk-lit Train Carriage is a location seen repeatedly during Shinji's dreamscapes. The train is always shown from its interior; a wooden floored train carriage, lit by the orange glow of a setting sun, almost empty save for Shinji and whoever he is "speaking" with. The sun can be seen outside the carriage windows, and usually silhouettes whomever sits across from Shinji.

Episode 16
The first appearance of the carriage inside Leliel.	A boys sits across from Shinji, silhouetted by the sun.	As the interrogation progresses, Shinji begins to retreat...	...eventually shouting at the boy.

Inside Leliel

The carriage is first seen in Episode 16, when Shinji and Eva-01 are trapped by the Angel Leliel. Shinji hears a voice, proclaiming itself to be the part of Shinji inside his own mind. Shinji is then faced with a younger version of himself, sitting on the opposite end of the carriage. Shinji is interrogated by this presence as the dreamscape progress, but ends up returning to the carriage as the interrogation intensifies, with Shinji forcefully rejecting the questions, covering his ears and shouting at the boy.

Toji's Hallucination

Episode 19
Toji finds himself standing in a train carriage.	He sees Rei and Shinji sitting in the next carriage.	Rei questions Shinji about his relationship with Gendo...	...but Shinji again retreats from her questions.

The carriage reappears in Episode 19, while Shinji and Toji are unconscious in hospital. Most interestingly , the carriage is seen from Toji's perspective, in an apparent hallucination. Toji, finds himself standing in an adjacent carriage, and observes Rei and Shinji sitting across from one another in the lead car. As Rei asks Shinji about his actions threatening Gendo and Nerv HQ, Shinji angrily rejects her questions as they intensify. Toji does not intervene, and wakes afterwards when Shinji has left the hospital.

In Pre-3I Insturmentality

The carriage appears prominently during The End of Evangelion. During the Pre-3I Instrumentality dreamscape, Shinji is faced by Rei and also Asuka in the train, and confronted with his sex and relationship problems. As the confrontation progress, Shinji becomes enraged and verbally lashes out at the nude images of Misato, Asuka and Rei which appear, berating the ambiguity in their relationships with him, and begging them not to abandon him.

At the end of this, as the images disappear, Shinji turns to see the normally attired Misato, Asuka, and Rei standing observing him from the other end of the carriage.

Episode 26'
The carriage as seen in the End of Evangelion.	Asuka confronting Shinji, Rei still sitting across.	Shinji berates and pleads as images of the women which appear.	Shinji slowly turns to see Misato, Asuka, and Rei standing at the other end of the carriage.

In Rebuild

The Dusk-lit train returns in Evangelion 1.0 and Evangelion 2.0.

In Evangelion 1.0, after a berserk Eva-01 defeats Sachiel, Shinji sees a vision of the empty train carriage, and hears a memory of Gendo and Yui choosing names for their future child. He then hears Rei's voice, mulling over the names, and when she finally says her own, Shinji wakes up in hospital.

Later, following his first defeat by Ramiel, Shinji is again hospitalized. While unconscious, he returns to the train carriage, where he reflects on how he hates piloting the Eva. He is faced with a younger version of himself, similar to the one seen in Leliel in NGE, but shown with a bag in this version. Rei appears at one end of the carriage, eventually taking the younger boys place across from Shinji. When Shinji finally wakes, Rei is reading a book next to his hospital bed.

In Evangelion 2.0 the carriage appears again after Shinji's is knocked unconscious after threatening Gendo and HQ. In the carriage, Shinji listens to his SDAT, while Rei sitting opposite asks him about the player. Shinji explains why he keeps the SDAT, as his younger self briefly appears in the carriage to comment. that it was originally Gendo's player, and his younger self appears and notes that this is similar to Gendo glasses which Rei keeps. Shinji laments the state of the world he lives in, and eventually takes off his father's the SDAT, which is seen placed up on the luggage rack. Rei asks if Shinji ever really tried to understand Gendo, but Shinji angrily rejects her questions. His younger self appears in her place, again pressing Shinji, who covers his ears shouting, and then wakes up.

During this last incident, the only view of the world outside the carriage is seen; an landscape of train lines running in parallel. Several new interior shots of the carriage are shown, including ones showing textual signs.

The Carriage in Rebuild
The carriage as in Evangelion 1.0	The boy now seen with Shinji's bag.	Rei's appearance inside the train.	Shinji's SDAT, removed on the train.
The landscape of tracks seen outside the train.