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蒙面的劫匪能夠阻擋下圖中這種老舊火車，並且帶著火車上所有現金與值錢物品逃走
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美國史上第一樁火車搶劫案：1866年10月6日
1800年後期，一位親眼目睹火車劫案的人描述當時的情景：「我決定在感恩節回家和我在銀市 (Silver
City) 的家人相聚。我在威爾克斯 (Wilcox) 搭上火車。那列火車上也載運大量的金子。就在通過「史坦關」 (Steins
Pass) 不久之後，我們看到很大的營火。其中有一個乘客還說『這個營火真是大，我希望我們不會惹上麻煩。』…然後，就是今天，我們因為好奇心而想要知道為什麼鐵軌旁會有這麼大的營火，而火車也突然停了下來。我們發現自己已經被一堆手槍瞄準著。」
許多私家偵探後來就和士兵，還有其他法律人士搭乘火車，以保護火車上頭的財物與乘客。到了將要進入20世紀的時候，許多有名的火車劫匪，包括布區‧卡西迪 (Butch
Cassidy) 、「蘇丹斯小子們幫」 (Sudances
Kids) ，以及其他「野幫區幫派」 (Wild
Bunch Gang) 的成員等等，都已經遭到逮捕、殺害，或者是不在美國搶劫了。
One witness to a train robbery in the late 1880s described the experience this way: "I decided to come home Thanksgiving to be with my family at Silver City. I boarded the train at Wilcox. There was a large shipment of gold on the train. Just out of Steins Pass we could see a large bon-fire. One of the train-men remarked, 'Wonder what the big fire is. I hope we don't run into any trouble.' ...Then, as today, curiosity got the best of some of us so we had to find out why the train came to an abrupt stop, and why the bon-fire was put on the track. We found ourselves looking into the barrel of guns."
Private detectives placed onboard trains, along with soldiers and other lawmen were brought in to protect the trains. By the turn of the 20th century, most of the famous train robbers, including Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the other members of the Wild Bunch gang, had been captured, killed or were no longer operating in the United States.
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