You'll need another datablock, a ParticleData, for the actual particle. That's just the emitter. The particles variable references the particle datablock for the emitter to make, not the file:
All of the "built in" particles come in Particle/Emitter pairs, as below:
datablock ParticleData(arrowTrailParticle)
{
dragCoefficient = 3.0;
windCoefficient = 0.0;
gravityCoefficient = 0.0;
inheritedVelFactor = 0.0;
constantAcceleration = 0.0;
lifetimeMS = 200;
lifetimeVarianceMS = 0;
spinSpeed = 10.0;
spinRandomMin = -50.0;
spinRandomMax = 50.0;
useInvAlpha = false;
animateTexture = false;
//framesPerSec = 1;
textureName = "base/data/particles/dot";
//animTexName = "~/data/particles/dot";
// Interpolation variables
colors[0] = "1 1 1 0.2";
colors[1] = "1 1 1 0.0";
sizes[0] = 0.2;
sizes[1] = 0.01;
times[0] = 0.0;
times[1] = 1.0;
};
datablock ParticleEmitterData(arrowTrailEmitter)
{
ejectionPeriodMS = 2;
periodVarianceMS = 0;
ejectionVelocity = 0; //0.25;
velocityVariance = 0; //0.10;
ejectionOffset = 0;
thetaMin = 0.0;
thetaMax = 90.0;
particles = arrowTrailParticle;
};