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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 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...
Genre:Western
Network:ABC

Best Episodes Summary

"Big Deal" is the best rated episode of "The Iron Horse". It scored 7.5/10 based on 19 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".

  • Big Deal
    7.5/1019 votes
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    #1 - Big Deal

    Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 12/12/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Broken Gun
    7.2/1025 votes
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    #2 - Broken Gun

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/17/1966

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

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Explosion at Waycrossing
    7.2/1018 votes
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    #3 - Explosion at Waycrossing

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 11/21/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Leopards Try, But Leopards Can't
    7.2/1017 votes
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    #4 - Leopards Try, But Leopards Can't

    Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 10/28/1967

    A bounty hunter arrives in Scalplock to start a new life. But he becomes interested in Julie and can think of only one option in dealing with rival Ben.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Appointment with an Epitaph
    7.1/1020 votes
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    #5 - Appointment with an Epitaph

    Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 2/13/1967

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Dynamite Driver
    7.0/1026 votes
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    #6 - The Dynamite Driver

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/19/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Stephen Kandel

  • High Devil
    7.0/1027 votes
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    #7 - High Devil

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/26/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Through Ticket to Gunsight
    7.0/1013 votes
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    #8 - Through Ticket to Gunsight

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 11/28/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Gallows for Bill Pardew
    7.0/1017 votes
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    #9 - Gallows for Bill Pardew

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 9/30/1967

    Barnabas identifies his coworker and friend Billy Pardew as the killer of a store clerk, though only on the basis of his boots. The obviously biased judge, a man known to be too quick to hang defendants, asks Calhoun to act as Billy's defense when no attorney agrees to take the case. And Billy's uncles are determined to stop his being hanged any way they can.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Steel Chain to a Music Box
    7.0/1015 votes
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    #10 - Steel Chain to a Music Box

    Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 11/18/1967

    Young Frank Wyatt is accidentally shot in a fight with Barnabas, who thought he was behaving improperly with a young woman. Calhoun tries to take Frank to the nearest doctor by using the train, but Frank's powerful father forces both Frank and Barnabas off and takes them to his ranch. Though this action aggravates his son's wound, the elder Wyatt plans to kill Barnabas if Frank dies, even over Frank's objection.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Prisoners
    7.0/1015 votes
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    #11 - The Prisoners

    Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 12/30/1967

    A dying marshal deputizes Dave (who in turn also deputizes Calhoun) to transport his prisoner to Doan's Junction to be tried for murder. But other members of the killer's gang have boarded the train and are planning to break him free. The prisoner also sees an opportunity for escape in a young woman who is being forced into marrying a wealthy man and clearly doesn't want to.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Dry Run to Glory
    7.0/1015 votes
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    #12 - Dry Run to Glory

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 1/6/1968

    Victor Lamphier has a grudge against alcoholic Billy Joe, whose father is a rich rancher. Victor hijacks Ben's train to exact his revenge and Ben must outwit the man without anyone coming to harm.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Right of Way Through Paradise
    6.9/1024 votes
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    #13 - Right of Way Through Paradise

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/3/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Rail Runs West
    6.8/1028 votes
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    #14 - Rail Runs West

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/12/1966

    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.

    Director: James Goldstone

    Writer: Stephen Kandel

  • No Wedding Bells for Tony
    6.8/1020 votes
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    #15 - No Wedding Bells for Tony

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/7/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Man from New Chicago
    6.8/1018 votes
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    #16 - The Man from New Chicago

    Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 11/14/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Volcano Wagon
    6.8/1021 votes
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    #17 - Volcano Wagon

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 1/16/1967

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Shadow Run
    6.8/1019 votes
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    #18 - Shadow Run

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 1/30/1967

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Wild Track
    6.8/1017 votes
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    #19 - Wild Track

    Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 12/16/1967

    The ownership of a luxurious railway car is disputed so Ben takes possession of it even though it contains passengers. He ruins the plans of an outlaw gang that had plans to hold everyone and the car for ransom.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Cougar Man
    6.7/1018 votes
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    #20 - Cougar Man

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 10/24/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • War Cloud
    6.7/1014 votes
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    #21 - War Cloud

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 10/31/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Town Full of Fear
    6.7/1019 votes
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    #22 - Town Full of Fear

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/5/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • A Dozen Ways to Kill a Man
    6.7/1021 votes
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    #23 - A Dozen Ways to Kill a Man

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 12/19/1966

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • The Pembrooke Blood
    6.7/1019 votes
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    #24 - The Pembrooke Blood

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 1/9/1967

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Sister Death
    6.7/1019 votes
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    #25 - Sister Death

    Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 4/3/1967

    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.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A