Here's how one Louisiana town is cashing in on this famous duo. Anything we can draw from this? Famous train robbers perhaps? Anything?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040522/ap_on_re_us/bonnie___clyde_festival_2
ryarger@rypn.org

Perhaps something could be done along those lines if properly packaged. It appears that the Bonnie and Clyde event is regional, so why not entertain the idea of something along those lines for train robbers? California had Evans and Sontag; the Midwest had Jesse James, the Hole in the Wall Gang to name a couple of groups and the Southwest had Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Of all the bandits mentioned, only Frank James, Jesse's older brother experienced a non-climactic end. His death was a rarity among the group in that he died of an uncommon cause for bandits-old age.

awalker1829@yahoo.com

> Perhaps something could be done along those
> lines if properly packaged. It appears that
> the Bonnie and Clyde event is regional, so
> why not entertain the idea of something
> along those lines for train robbers?
> California had Evans and Sontag; the Midwest
> had Jesse James, the Hole in the Wall Gang
> to name a couple of groups and the Southwest
> had Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Of
> all the bandits mentioned, only Frank James,
> Jesse's older brother experienced a
> non-climactic end. His death was a rarity
> among the group in that he died of an
> uncommon cause for bandits-old age.

Perhaps some segment of the non-railfan community might find "bandit raids" an entertaining addition to a ride on an historic train; I deplore them A) because they were fairly rare occurences, not part of most real train trips, and B) we have enough crime and violence on the daily news, we don't need it in our leisure activities. Frightening small children doesn't build friends for railroading.

> Perhaps some segment of the non-railfan
> community might find "bandit
> raids" an entertaining addition to a
> ride on an historic train; I deplore them A)
> because they were fairly rare occurences,
> not part of most real train trips, and B) we
> have enough crime and violence on the daily
> news, we don't need it in our leisure
> activities. Frightening small children
> doesn't build friends for railroading.

I was thinking about one of the perennial issues here on RyPN, that of lack of interest by the younger people and/or the general public. My thought was that most other areas of historical interest usually has a number of bigger than life heroes whose names echo down through history. The old west has both good guys (or at least that's they way history has remembered them), bad guys and some that were just giant men in the untamed wilderness. The marine industry has a whole plethora of men both real and fictional that battled the sea and each other. The study of war and general interest by the public is driven by the men who struggled mightily, sometimes for lost causes. These names out of the past is probably the spark for a few people to learn in depth about the times and places that made these people remembered. One of the things that sort of dawned on me is that railroading is a very anonymous business. Other than Casey Jones, there are very few people who made the railroads work that are remembered from the past. Linwood Moody and later, Robert Jones, captured the human element in the Maine Two Footers which may be the reason that for so few miles of track, there is so much interest today. It isn't just the gauge because the Gilpin Tram two foot gauge all but vanished into history. I grew up in the Denver area and I use spend part of one weekend a month 4x4 in the Central City area and I didn't learn of the Gilpin Tram until many years later.

While the staged train robberies and such may not be to all tastes, I bet that they would be draw that could spark the curiosity in a few individuals as to why the twin ribbons of steel. The Polar Express before it was licensed to death, Tomas the Tank Engine, the role acting out parties used by some lines all point to a vein of both revenue and the infamous "next generation."

Ed


ff1044@aol.com

I never thought much of fake train hold-ups either, since experiencing my first at Knotts Berry Farm in 1954. What I'm thinking is searching out the actual historical sites connected to train robberys and making them part of a historic driving/walking tour, with brochures, historical markers, etc..

A minor example that my family was connected with occured near Hugo, Colorado (where they are slowly restoring the derelict UP roundhouse), where a gang held up a UP train in the early 1900s. Fleeing, they holed up in a farmhouse outside Goodland, Kansas, where they let the family go, but refused to come out, shooting at the sheriff's posse. To rout them, the house was set afire, with one robber giving up, but the other choosing to burn to death. A minor incident in the annals of crime, but one that might give an eastbound motorist a reason to stop in Hugo and Goodland.

> Perhaps some segment of the non-railfan
> community might find "bandit
> raids" an entertaining addition to a
> ride on an historic train; I deplore them A)
> because they were fairly rare occurences,
> not part of most real train trips, and B) we
> have enough crime and violence on the daily
> news, we don't need it in our leisure
> activities. Frightening small children
> doesn't build friends for railroading.


ryarger@rypn.org

> I never thought much of fake train hold-ups
> either, since experiencing my first at
> Knotts Berry Farm in 1954. What I'm thinking
> is searching out the actual historical sites
> connected to train robberys and making them
> part of a historic driving/walking tour,
> with brochures, historical markers, etc..

> A minor example that my family was connected
> with occured near Hugo, Colorado (where they
> are slowly restoring the derelict UP
> roundhouse), where a gang held up a UP train
> in the early 1900s. Fleeing, they holed up
> in a farmhouse outside Goodland, Kansas,
> where they let the family go, but refused to
> come out, shooting at the sheriff's posse.
> To rout them, the house was set afire, with
> one robber giving up, but the other choosing
> to burn to death. A minor incident in the
> annals of crime, but one that might give an
> eastbound motorist a reason to stop in Hugo
> and Goodland.
Fake train robberies are not for me. Go rent the film The Grey Fox instead.

bas1210@comcast.net

> Fake train robberies are not for me. Go rent
> the film The Grey Fox instead.
There is a small turnout & a marker just west of Avoca Iowa on US Hiway 6 where the James Gang robbed their first train on the ROCK ISLAND WOOLY

wooly421@charter.net