Train robbery
[3] One was Henry Poole, a former guard on the Great Western Railway, dismissed for misconduct (possibly on suspicion of another robbery);[4] the other was Edward Nightingale, the son of George Nightingale, accused, but acquitted,[5] of robbing the Dover mail coach in 1826,[6] when two thieves had dressed in identical clothes to gain an alibi for the other.
[8] Henry was sent to Bermuda on the Sir Robert Seppings (ship) in December 1850 whilst Edward was transported to Fremantle on the Sea Park in January 1854.
[citation needed] Changing social and economic situations after the American Civil War led to the development of gangs and individuals who took up train robbery as a means of income.
After the war, many soldiers were faced with little economic opportunity upon returning home, and train robbing required little specialized skill.
[12] The first post-Civil War robberies occurred in Indiana; Wells Fargo and American Express Company cars carrying money and other expensive materials were common targets.
Early trains passed through large stretches of rural landscape with little to no communication available, leaving them vulnerable to attack and hindering investigation and response by law enforcement.
Ruddell and Decker (2017) write, "train robberies were eliminated, in large part, due to making targets less attractive, increasing guardianship, and reducing offender motivation or in other words taking routine precaution".
[21] Wireless communications spread and the population and law enforcement presence in once-sparse areas grew, making crime reporting and response much faster.
[22] In 1923, what would later be dubbed the "Last Great Train Robbery", the DeAutremont Brothers targeted a Southern Pacific Railroad carrying mail.
The would-be robbers attempted to breach the mail car using dynamite but accidentally used too much, causing a large explosion that destroyed the targeted goods; ultimately, four people died in the attack.
[23] Southern Pacific and the Pinkertons pursued the gang for years and distributed 3.5 million leaflets worldwide for information, eventually apprehending the members.
[20] The outlaw culture in the American Old West became romanticized in Hollywood's Western films, such as The Great Train Robbery in 1903.
At the time, Egypt had high rates of poverty and social inequality, leading some citizens to turn to crime; some of these were underpaid train employees.
An unorganized and ill-equipped police force hampered efforts to resolve cases; during this time, only about 17% of train robbers were apprehended.
Egypt established its Railway Police force in 1893, and this, combined with new advances in security and forensic technology led to the gradual decrease of train robberies after 1904.
On April 8, a group of robbers targeted a Post Office train en route from Glasgow to London and stole over £2.3 million in parcels.
Thieves often target train cars carrying cargo for large corporations, such as Walmart and Amazon;[19] and are most interested in commercial goods, particularly electronics, or raw industrial materials like metals and textiles.
On August 9, 2016, a group of robbers drilled a hole into the roof of a secure car aboard the Chennai–Salem Express and stole ₹57.8 million ($860,000; £570,000).
[26] Goods are often stolen from unattended train cars and in transitional areas like rail yards, parking lots, and warehouses.
[citation needed] Contrary to the method romanticized by Hollywood, outlaws in the American Old West were never known to jump from horseback onto a moving train.
In one case in China, sheet metal being thrown from a train by robbers damaged nearby power lines, causing a blackout.
A 2017 review of 241 train robberies in the United States between 1866 and 1930 found that 91% were committed at gunpoint, 28% used dynamite, 29% resulted in shootings, 13.5% led to deaths, and 7.5% included derailments.
[13] Such violence only added to the high mortality rate of railroad employees, which during the first decades of operation averaged about 12,000 deaths annually.
A 2024 study on Swedish rail safety reported 19% of surveyed passengers feared robbery while on or waiting for a train.
These include increased security, target hardening, heavier punishments for convicted criminals, and collaboration with different law enforcement bodies.
The Great Train Robbery is credited with popularizing and setting a narrative standard for the enture Western film genre.
[44] One of the game's cutscenes recreated the opening train robbery scene in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford shot-for-shot.
