The Iron Horse backdrop
The Iron Horse poster
Western

The Best Episodes of The Iron Horse

Every episode of The Iron Horse ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Iron Horse!

The Best Episodes of The Iron Horse

The Iron Horse is an American Western television series that appeared on ABC from 1966 to 1968 and featured Dale Robertson as fictional gambler-turned-railroad baron...
  1. 7.5/10(20 votes)

    #1 - Big Deal

    Loading...
    S1:E14

    Despite Calhoun's best efforts at providing security while a millionaire industrialist and his wife are on the train, a group of outlaws too easily manages to break through and kidnap the man.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  2. 7.2/10(25 votes)

    #2 - Broken Gun

    Loading...
    S1:E6

    A gunslinger turned traveling salesman seeks revenge against the bushwhacker who crippled his drawing hand.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  3. 7.2/10(18 votes)

    #3 - Explosion at Waycrossing

    Loading...
    S1:E11

    One of Ben's trains is robbed of $50,000 and the thief is to be hanged for the crime. Deciding the sentence is unjust, Ben goes to extraordinary means to save the man's life.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  4. 7.1/10(20 votes)

    #4 - Appointment with an Epitaph

    Loading...
    S1:E23

    Six people from a stagecoach board Calhoun's train, all in fear for their lives after being followed for miles by a notorious gunman, who also boards the train. Calhoun puts him off, but he keeps following, and won't reveal which of the people he has been hired to kill, leading each of them to paranoid fear which may be a worse killer than his gun.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  5. 7.0/10(26 votes)

    #5 - The Dynamite Driver

    Loading...
    S1:E2

    Calhoun is under contract to deliver a herd of cattle, but a ruthless opponent of his is determined that he not succeed, and dynamites the bridge that was on the main route.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
  6. 7.0/10(27 votes)

    #6 - High Devil

    Loading...
    S1:E3

    Calhoun's attempts s to acquire a right of way from a said to be merciless woman killer are complicated by the woman's demand for marriage as payment and the plans of a ruthless saloon owner to out maneuver him.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Iron Horse

    READ
  8. 7.0/10(13 votes)

    #7 - Through Ticket to Gunsight

    Loading...
    S1:E12

    After a boiler on the train blows, Calhoun offers to refund all the passengers, but a headstrong woman is determined to continue on as planned to the mine her grandfather left to her. Rather than let her go alone, Dave accompanies her, but on the way they learn that others are just as determined to stop her from arriving in time to sign the deed---even though the mine does not have the gold or silver the grandfather thought it had.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  9. 6.9/10(24 votes)

    #8 - Right of Way Through Paradise

    Loading...
    S1:E4

    Calhoun's plans to obtain a right of way through the town of Paradise are jeopardized by four Confederate former comrades-in-arms he has hired. The men's rowdy behavior and total disregard for law has Tarrant advising they be fired, but Calhoun feels too obligated to the leader of the group.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  10. 6.8/10(28 votes)

    #9 - Rail Runs West

    Loading...
    S1:E1

    Ben Calhoun sells a herd of horses, uses the proceeds to get into a poker game, and wins the BPS&D railroad. He learns the railroad is broke but is determined to lay tracks to Scalplock while a disgruntled partner tries to stop him.

    0 Comments
    View all
  11. 6.8/10(20 votes)

    #10 - No Wedding Bells for Tony

    Loading...
    S1:E9

    Calhoun arrives in a small town to attend the wedding of an old friend. But he can find no trace of the man, and everyone in town just wants Calhoun to either leave or be killed, including the town boss, the father of the girl who was supposed to marry Calhoun's friend.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  12. 6.8/10(18 votes)

    #11 - The Man from New Chicago

    Loading...
    S1:E10

    After Dave is captured and forced to work in a town of outlaw forced laborers, Calhoun decides to infiltrate it in the hopes of getting him out, though he might not get out himself if his cover is blown.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  13. 6.8/10(21 votes)

    #12 - Volcano Wagon

    Loading...
    S1:E19

    A cave-in traps Nils, another crewman, and a little boy in a tunnel. While Dave and others work to dig them out, Calhoun and Barnabas rush to retrieve a batch of nitro to free them. But their trip becomes more dangerous than ever when their wagon wheel collapses and they must seek the help of a preacher who believes they are damned, and someone else who is determined that they not make it back alive.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  14. 6.8/10(19 votes)

    #13 - Shadow Run

    Loading...
    S1:E21

    At a stop in town, Calhoun is forced to shoot a man. Unaware of who he is, two men then hire him to kill---Ben Calhoun. Calhoun decides to play along with the plot in the hope of discovering who is behind it.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  15. 6.7/10(18 votes)

    #14 - Cougar Man

    Loading...
    S1:E7

    Calhoun decides to go into the rugged Apache country hills for a fight to the death against Cougar Man, an Apache who has killed five of Calhoun's men, and who believes himself cursed to kill as many men as possible until he himself is killed.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  16. 6.7/10(14 votes)

    #15 - War Cloud

    Loading...
    S1:E8

    Calhoun must transport an Army unit which has captured the renegade Sioux chief War Cloud and is bringing him to stand trial for numerous murders. This comes at a bad time for Calhoun, as he is hoping to impress another passenger, a wealthy banker whom he hopes will agree to a loan for the railroad. The banker's daughter believes War Cloud is being mistreated. But a man who lost his family in one of War Cloud's raids plans to make sure the Indian dies long before he arrives at the fort, and is willing to fight Calhoun to make sure of it.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  17. 6.7/10(20 votes)

    #16 - Town Full of Fear

    Loading...
    S1:E13

    Ben needs the right of way for his railroad in a near ghost town. But a dark secret is being kept by the last of the citizens and they would rather Ben is killed than have it revealed.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  18. 6.7/10(22 votes)

    #17 - A Dozen Ways to Kill a Man

    Loading...
    S1:E15

    Calhoun learns from Dave and Barnabas that all of the railroad's crew has been lured away by the promise of gold from a nearby mine. Actually, it is all part of a plot to lure Calhoun away in the hope of stealing the railroad.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  19. 6.7/10(19 votes)

    #18 - The Pembrooke Blood

    Loading...
    S1:E18

    Ben Calhoun gets to end of beating line alive, then is invited for a last dinner before being shot. Ben wins his life back in a poker game, but Pembrooke reneges, and Ben runs away for his life and kills his pursuers.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  20. 6.7/10(19 votes)

    #19 - Sister Death

    Loading...
    S1:E30

    Calhoun learns that he is transporting three female prisoners to Kansas City, and that one of them is the only witness against a ruthless mob boss being tried for murder. But the man has no intention of letting her arrive to testify against him, and has put his associates on the trail and on the train to make sure of it.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  21. 6.6/10(20 votes)

    #20 - Death by Triangulation

    Loading...
    S1:E28

    Calhoun wins a high stakes poker game against outlaw gambler Dan Patrick. But Patrick says he does not have the money on him, and offers a beautiful young Spanish noblewoman as collateral. Calhoun agrees to leave the young woman with Barnabas as he goes with Patrick to retrieve the money. But Patrick has no intention of keeping his end of the bargain.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  22. 6.5/10(21 votes)

    #21 - The Pride of the Bottom of the Barrel

    Loading...
    S1:E5

    When starving Apaches leave their reservation in search of food, and encounter a brutal Cavalry commander, Ben seeks a peaceful resolution.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  23. 6.5/10(19 votes)

    #22 - Banner with a Strange Device

    Loading...
    S1:E22

    While the train is stopped in the town of Banner, where Calhoun is making a major business deal with town founder Big Jim Banner, Barnabas is attacked by Banner's son, who thinks Barnabas is one of the Claiborne boys with whom the Banners have a major feud. At first it seems to be a mistake, until Barnabas meets Jeff Claiborne, who looks just like him. Soon Barnabas, who was raised as an orphan, starts to believe that he may be a Claiborne as well.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  24. 6.5/10(16 votes)

    #23 - Decision at Sundown

    Loading...
    S1:E25

    With Calhoun away, the train is taken over by a group of ruthless outlaws who demand that Dave turn over a large fortune in bonds that is being delivered. Dave tells them that they will have to wait for Calhoun to return with them, but that is a delaying tactic as Calhoun will not be back that soon and Dave may have to resort to other plans to save the lives of the crew and passengers.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  25. 6.5/10(18 votes)

    #24 - The Passenger

    Loading...
    S1:E26

    Calhoun is under orders from President Grant himself to safely transport Pierre Le Druc, an associate of Mexico's deposed puppet emperor Maximilian, to a meeting with his French countrymen on the west coast. But Le Druc is a ruthless killer, and a Mexican general is also pursuing the train to capture Le Druc and bring him back for trial.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  26. 6.4/10(18 votes)

    #25 - Hellcat

    Loading...
    S1:E16

    After Calhoun rescues a headstrong young Indian woman from two buffalo hunters who were abusing her, he asks her to be his scout through dangerous terrain on his way to meet with a Sioux chief. She agrees, until she learns that he plans to negotiate putting the railroad through Sioux territory.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A

Best Episodes Summary

"Big Deal" is the best rated episode of "The Iron Horse". It scored 7.5/10 based on 20 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 12/12/1966. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Broken Gun".