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20 Most Famous Train Robbers in the World

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, robbing trains was one of the most common and lucrative criminal activities. During that period the world saw the emergence of some of the most famous and notorious train robbers in history.

Train robbers particularly in American Old West were mostly outlaws and bandits whose robbing trains was their main source of income. Contrary to popular belief the robbers did not jump from horseback onto a moving train. To carry out a robbery, they would either board the train normally and wait for a good time to attack or derail the train in secluded areas.

Their main target was slow-moving trains carrying payroll shipments, Gold, or any other valuables. They would normally force the express man to open the safe for them or simply blow the safe open with explosives.

Despite their criminal activities, some of these train robbers became very famous among the locals, especially in the American Old West where they are still regarded as criminal celebrities or national heroes.

In this article let鈥檚 look at the 20 Most Famous Train Robbers in the World.

Also read the 10 most famous Train Robberies 

1. Bruce Richard Reynolds

Bruce Reynolds ( Far Right) – Photo Source:

Arguably the most famous train robber in history, Bruce Richard Reynolds was the leader and the mastermind of the 1963 Great Train Robbery. He had earlier gained notoriety after his gang stole 拢62,000 in a security van robbery at London, Heathrow Airport in 1962.

However, his defining moment came in the early hours of August 8, 1963, when he led a gang of 15 to steal over 拢2.6 million (equivalent to 拢58 million today)  from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line.

The 1963 Great Train Robbery, which was Britain鈥檚 largest robbery at the time made international headlines and cemented Bruce Richard Reynolds’s name among the most famous train robbers of all time. He spent less than ten years in prison for his crime and was released from prison in 1978. He died in his sleep on the afternoon of 28 February 2013 at the age of 81.

 2. Jesse Woodson James

Jesse James – Photo Source:

Although he is best remembered as a bank robber, Jesse James is also one of the most famous train robbers in history. He was a member of various notorious gangs of outlaws that carried out a number of train robberies across Midwestern America in the late 1900s.

Jesse James gained national fame after he and his gang carried out the first robbery of a moving train on the evening of July 21, 1873, near Adair, Iowa, where they made away with approximately $3,000 (equivalent to $68,000 in 2021). 

Despite the brutality of his crimes, Jesse James became a national sensation and is often regarded as a folk hero and celebrity criminal among some members of the public. He died on April 3, 1882, after being shot by one member of his gang.

3. Butch Cassidy

Butch Cassidy – Photo Source:

Also known as Robert LeRoy Parker, Butch Cassidy was one of the most well-known train robbers and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws which was known as the “Wild Bunch” in the Old West.

He gained national fame after he and his gang attacked and robbed a Union Pacific Overland Flyer passenger train near Wilcox, Wyoming On June 2, 1899, a robbery that earned them a great deal of notoriety and resulted in a massive manhunt.

Butch Cassidy killed himself with his final bullet on November 6, 1908, after engaging law enforcement officers in a fierce gun battle throughout the night.

4. Elmer J. McCurdy 

Popularly known as “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up”, Elmer J. McCurdy was one of the most notorious and well-known train robbers in history. He became famous after carrying out a number of train robberies in the early 20th century including the Iron Mountain-Missouri Pacific train No 104 robbery on March 24, 1911.

McCurdy carried out his final train robbery on October 4, 1911, where he and his two accomplices attempted to rob a Katy train in Oklahoma which they believed was transporting $400,000 in cash. However, their mission went horribly wrong after they were accosted by law enforcement officers, and McCurdy was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest during the shootout.

5. Charles Frederick Wilson

Born on 30 June 1932, Charles Frederick Wilson was a member of an English criminal gang that carried out the 1963 Great Train Robbery. He was also the last gang member to emerge from prison in 1978 after serving 10 years of his 30 years imprisonment.

Wilson became famous after it emerged that he was the gang鈥檚 treasurer who made sure that the 拢2, 631, 684 (equivalent to 拢58 million today) was shared equally among the robbers.

During his trial, he was dubbed 鈥渢he silent man” as he refused to diverge any details concerning the robbery, which gained him admiration from his fellow gang members and also the general public.

He lived to be 68 years old and was murdered at his doorstep on 23 April 1990 for what is believed to be unrelated reasons.

6. Brian Arthur Field

Royal Mail Mail Rail Train- Photo by Ross Holdway from

Brian Arthur Field ranks among the Most Famous Train Robbers in the World. This is primarily because he was a crucial gang member and a master planner of the 1963 Great Train Robbery where over 拢2.6 million (equivalent to 拢58 million today) was stolen.

He was the middleman between the actual robbers and the informants who knew the details of the Royal Mail train operations. Brian was also crucial in organizing the robbers’ escape route and hideout after the robbery was successfully carried out.

Although Brian was first arrested and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment together with other robbers, his sentence was later reduced to 5 years on appeal after the prosecution failed to prove that he took part in the robbery itself.  He was released from prison in 1967 and died in a car crash on 27 April 1979 at the age of 44 years.

Read the 10 most famous robberies in the United Kingdom 

7. Ronald Christopher “Buster” Edwards 

Ronald Christopher “Buster” Edwards was a famous train robber and a crucial member of an English criminal gang that committed the 1963 Great train robbery. He was also involved in the heist of 拢62,000 (拢1.41 million today) from the headquarters of British Overseas Airways Corporation at Heathrow Airport, in 1962.

Edward became famous after he together with the gang leader, Bruce Reynolds, took their families to Mexico and managed to evade arrest for a couple of years. However, Edward negotiated his return to England in 1966 after the money ran out and was sentenced to 15 years in jail shortly after his return.

He was found hanging from a steel girder inside a lock-up garage by his brother on 28 November 1994, in what was ruled to be a suicidal death.

8.  Bill Downing 

William F. Downing, better known as Bill Downing, was a notorious train robber and a trigger-happy outlaw during the Wild West era in Arizona. He was involved in various train robberies including the Southern Pacific’s westbound train at Cochise Station and the failed Fairbank train robbery.

In one of the robberies that he was involved in, Downing and his fellow gang members held the train engineer, the mail clerk, and a Wells Fargo man at a gunpoint and proceeded to steal between $2,000 and $3,000 in cash and jewelry.

However, even though Downing ranks among the most famous train robbers in the world, he was so unpopular that even members of his gang couldn’t stand him. He was killed by a law enforcement officer in Willcox Arizona on August 5, 1908.

9. Bob Dalton

Bob and Grat Dalton – Photo Source:

Although Bob Dalton did not last long in his criminal career, he and his gang which included two of his brothers became famous after they robbed various banks, stagecoaches, and trains, particularly in Kansas and Oklahoma Territory.

Some of the train robberies that he was involved in were the Southern Pacific Railroad passenger train robbery on the night of February 6, 1891, the Santa Fe train robbery on June 1, 1892, and the Oklahoma train robbery on September 15, 1891. In total, Bob and his gang are believed to have gotten away with close to $100,000 in those robberies.

However, his venture ended on October 5, 1892, when he and most of his gang members were shot dead by law enforcement officers while they attempted to rob two banks on the same day in Coffeyville, Kansas. at the time of his death, he was only 23 years old. 

10. Emmett Dalton 

Emmett Dalton was a member of the notorious Dalton Gang which was responsible for various train robberies in the American Old West in the late 19th century. He was also the brother of the gang鈥檚 leader Bob Dalton and Gratton Dalton who was also the gang鈥檚 member.

Emmett Dalton was involved in all train robberies that the Dalton gang committed and gained national fame after he became the Dalton gang鈥檚 only survivor in a failed bank robbery on October 5, 1892.

Despite receiving 23 gunshot wounds during the shootout, he recovered and lived to die of unrelated causes in July 1937 at the age of 66. Emmett’s account of his exploits with his brothers, titled Beyond the Law, was published in 1918 as a serial story in The Wide World Magazine.

11. Grat Dalton 

Gratton Dalton was a famous train robber and an American outlaw who was also a member of the notorious Dalton gang that terrorized the American Old West in the late 19th century. He was the eldest brother of the Gang leader Bob Dalton and Emmett Dalton.

Grat Dalton became famous together with his brothers after they carried out a number of train robberies in the early 1890s which netted them close to $100000. However, his exploits did not last long as he was killed together with his younger brother, Bob Dalton, on October 5, 1892 (aged 31).

12. Newton Gang 

The Newton Gang is arguably the most successful train and bank robber in history. They are believed to have carried out six successful train robberies and over 80 bank robberies between 1919 and 1924.

The gang which was led by Wills Newton gained international fame after they carried out   Rondout, Illinois train robbery in 1924 which was the world鈥檚 largest at the time. According to their own claims, they never killed anyone throughout their criminal career and stole more money than the Dalton Gang, Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch, and the James-Younger Gangs combined.

Wills Newton and his brothers became more famous in 1975 when they participated in a documentary film where they gave a detailed account of their past criminal activities.

See also the 10 most famous robberies in History

13. Bill Miner

Better known as 鈥淭he Gentleman Robber 鈥�, Bill Miner was a career criminal and an American bandit who specialized in robbing trains. He is reputed to have been the originator of the phrase “Hands up!鈥� a phrase that was commonly used by train robbers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Due to his polite demeanor during his robbery missions, Miner was nicknamed the Grey Fox, Gentleman Robber, or the Gentleman Bandit. He is also believed to have staged British Columbia’s first-ever train robbery on September 10, 1904, at Silverdale about 35 kilometers east of Vancouver.

Bill was eventually arrested and jailed after a botched payroll train robbery he carried out near Kamloops at Monte Creek. He later escaped from prison and moved to the United States where he died on the prison farm at Milledgeville, Georgia while serving a prison term for other robberies he committed there.

In spite of his criminal activities, Bill Miner became a criminal celebrity in British Columbia and various pubs and alcoholic drinks were named after him.

14. Reno Brothers Gang 

Popularly known as the Reno Gang or Reno Brothers Gang were a group of criminals that operated in the Midwestern United States during and just after the American Civil War. The gang which comprised of three Reno brothers and their accomplices is believed to have carried out the first three peacetime train robberies in U.S. history.

Although their criminal activities were short-lived the gang is famous after they carried out four successful train robberies in succession,  stealing over $100000 in the process. All the members of the Reno Gang including the three Reno brothers were arrested and later lynched by the members of vigilante groups.  

15. Sam Bass 

Union Pacific Train – Photo Source:

Born on July 21, 1851, Sam Bass, was a 19th-century American train robber, outlaw, and gang leader. He became famous after leading a group of six men in successfully robbing a Union Pacific train in Nebraska of $60,000 in newly minted gold on September 18, 1877.

To date, the robbery remains the biggest train robbery ever committed in the United States. He died on July 19, 1878, as a result of gunshot wounds he sustained in a gun battle with law enforcement officers.

Despite his criminal activities, Bass became a criminal celebrity among Texans and there are some roads named after him across Texas.  He is also remembered and celebrated in Texas on every third Saturday of July annually.

16. Jack Dunlop

Commonly known as 鈥渢he Three-Fingered Jack鈥�, Jack Dunlop was one of the most famous train robbers that operated in the closing days of the Old West. He began his criminal career in the late 19th century and became famous after he took part in the Southern pacific express robbery on the night of September 9, 1899.

Dunlop later joined Burt Alvord and Billy Stiles to form a criminal gang that carried out various high-profile robberies in Arizona territory including a train robbery at the Fairbank on February 15, 1900.

However, the Fairbank train robbery proved to be his last after he got wounded in a gun battle with a well-known lawman Jeff Davis Milton who was working as a guard on the train. Dunlop died just over a week later and is buried in Tombstone’s Boot Hill cemetery.

17. William L. Carlisie

Best known as the “Wild Bill”, William L. Carlisle was one of the most famous and the last train robbers of the American West. He was also known as the “Robin Hood of the Rails” or “The White-Masked Bandit”.

Carlisle robbed his first train in Wyoming on 9 February 1916, During which he is said to have given coins to a guard to make up for his lost tips, gave a dollar to a man to pay for his breakfast, and bowed to a woman who tried to grab a gun from him.

He robbed two more trains over the next two months but was finally arrested on 22 April 1916. Even though he never harmed anybody and did not steal from women, children, or servicemen, Bill was and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins on 10 May 1916 after a two-day trial.

Read the 10 most famous robberies in India

18. Reuben Houston Burrow 

Better known as Rube Burrow, Reuben Houston Burrow was one of the most notorious train robbers in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the late 19th century. He also became one the most hunted men in the Old West since Jesse James.

During his active years, Rube Burrow and his gang robbed express trains in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, the Indian Territory, and Texas. Although the exact amount of the money he and his gang stole is unknown, it is estimated that they got away with close $100000 between 1886 and 1890.

19. George Curry

Popularly known as “Flat-Nose Curry鈥�, George Sutherland Curry was a Canadian-American train robber of the American Old West. He started off as a bank robber before joining the wild Bunch gang which was led by the famous train robber Butch Cassidy.

Curry was a crucial member of the gang that attacked and robbed the Union Pacific Overland Flyer train at Wilcox, Wyoming, on June 2, 1899. He also took part in several other robberies and ranks among the most famous train robbers in the world.

20. Ben Kilpatrick 

Members of Wildbunch Gang – Photo Source:

Ben Kilpatrick was a famous American train robber and a member of the outlaw Wild Bunch gang led by Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay. He is thought to have participated in several train robberies outside of Memphis in November 1911 and February 1912, as well as other small robberies in West Texas.

Kilpatrick and his fellow train robber Ole Hobek were killed In March 1912 while robbing a Southern Pacific Express train near Sanderson, Texas.