6.8/1028 votes#1 - 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
- 7.0/1026 votes
#2 - 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
- 7.0/1027 votes
#3 - 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
- 6.9/1024 votes
#4 - 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
- 6.5/1021 votes
#5 - The Pride of the Bottom of the Barrel
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/10/1966
When starving Apaches leave their reservation in search of food, and encounter a brutal Cavalry commander, Ben seeks a peaceful resolution.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1025 votes
#6 - 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
- 6.7/1018 votes
#7 - 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
- 6.7/1014 votes
#8 - 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
- 6.8/1020 votes
#9 - 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
- 6.8/1018 votes
#10 - 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
- 7.2/1018 votes
#11 - 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
- 7.0/1013 votes
#12 - 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
- 6.7/1019 votes
#13 - 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
- 7.5/1019 votes
#14 - 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
- 6.7/1021 votes
#15 - 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
- 6.4/1018 votes
#16 - Hellcat
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 12/26/1966
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 5.9/1019 votes
#17 - Welcome for the General
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/2/1967
As Calhoun rides on the train with General Sherman on his tour, Dave, Barnabas, and the entire population of one of the train's stops are taken prisoner by a former Confederate officer and his group, who plan to assassinate the General.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1019 votes
#18 - 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
- 6.8/1021 votes
#19 - 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
- 5.9/1020 votes
#20 - The Bridge at Forty-Mile
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 1/23/1967
A man who sold lumber to Calhoun's railroad has disappeared, and his brother thus refuses to unload the lumber unless and until he is found to prove the sale was made. Suspecting two renegade Indians who quit just after the man left, Dave sets out to find them, along with the seller's brother. The behaviour of the owner of a trading post leads them to suspect the answers are to be found there.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1019 votes
#21 - 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
- 6.5/1019 votes
#22 - Banner with a Strange Device
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 2/6/1967
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.1/1020 votes
#23 - 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
- 6.2/1022 votes
#24 - The Red Tornado
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 2/20/1967
Calhoun finds an eight-year-old Arapaho boy alive as the only survivor of a battle with the Shoshone. He wants to bring him back to his people, but the Shoshone want him brought to them, as he is the son and heir to the slain Arapaho chief. Calhoun fears that he will be killed if brought to them, but local townspeople, including a close friend, want to maintain the peace with the Shoshone and thus do as they ask---while others in the town want to use the incident to start a new war.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1016 votes
#25 - Decision at Sundown
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 2/27/1967
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.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Iron Horse Season 1
Every episode of The Iron Horse Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Iron Horse Season 1!
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
Season 1 Ratings Summary
"Rail Runs West" is the best rated episode of "The Iron Horse" season 1. It scored 6.8/10 based on 28 votes. Directed by James Goldstone and written by Stephen Kandel, it aired on 9/12/1966. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "The Dynamite Driver".