"Train Robberies" Topic

How were they usually carried out. I have heard two different methods. I know the James Gang stopped a train at the station then robbed it. I also have heard of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch robbing a train using dynamite to break into the car with the money (don't know how they got the train to stop, though I'm guessing Sundance didn't jump on the roof and hold up the engineers!). Any additional info would be great.

Thanks,
ALV

Boarding the train from horseback while under steam is, unfortunately a Hollywood invention.
The two recorded techniques used for train robbery in the Old West were:
Boarding the train as passengers, then pulling guns to rob the genuine passengers and strongbox…
And:
Stopping the train by blocking or wrecking the tracks – in some cases resulting in derailment.

No argument here… in any given situation, the "Hollywood option" is usually by far the most entertaining!

Although a 'race against time' scenario as a train full of unsuspecting innocents speeds toward disaster, or a sputtering fuse creeps closer to a fragile trestle bridge are interesting possibilities.

Thanks. I will see which seems to work out better.

The red light was the standard signal to stop – it wasn't too hard to get a normal train to come to a halt, even and perhaps especially, in the middle of nowhere in an age when corporations really knew how to cut costs on construction and maintenance.

Thanks. I will see which seems to work out better.

We will watch the papers to see which works best too!

Two other methods to consider:

1. Boarding the train while it is slowed going up an incline.
and
2. A variant of flagging the train down, seizing a coaling/water station in the middle of nowhere.

Realistically the only resistance your train robbers will meet are the guard(s) in the express car. Sometimes armed passengers might offer resistance.

Remember the James gang operated in fairly settled areas, and not the wild west of legend, so the folks they robbed were more "civilized" and therefore less likely to defend themselves : )

The town of Adair, Iowa should be ashamed of themselves.

Remember the James gang operated in fairly settled areas, and not the wild west of legend, so the folks they robbed were more "civilized" and therefore less likely to defend themselves : )

Of course, they might also happen to be Civil War veterans, too. That's one of the reasons for what happened in Northfield.

Yes Ross. However on a train there would unlikely be a supply of ready weapons and folks in settled areas were less likely to go around armed.