Here is another train story I thought you would like. It seems a tall, lanky cowboy wandered into the Midland depot at Divide a bit over a hundred years ago. He asked for a ticket on the next train. The agent asked him where to? His reply was unusual: the next town. The agent asked back, which way he wanted to go, there were three choices. The cowboy was a man of few words, but he said “It don't matter, the next one.”
As it turned out, the next one was a Colorado Midland train to Florissant. That would do, when was it? It would arrive in less than an hour, and leave after a 10-minute stop. The fare was less than a dollar because there was a special tourist rate on and he could save on the trip.
Was he interested in perhaps going on to Hartsel or Leadville? No, Florissant would do. He found a seat and waited for the train. When the train pulled in, the agent went to the baggage car to take care of the day's shipments. The cowboy seemed really interested in the inside of the car, as well as the crew on the engine. That day's train consisted of an engine, baggage car, a coach with open seating and a fancy Pullman sleeping car on the rear. The cowboy stepped up to the coach, and the agent thought about pointing him out to the conductor, but things got busy and he had other things to do.
In those days the ends of the car were open, not an enclosed vestibule. The conductor started through the train from the rear. Once he stepped into the coach, he spotted the cowboy heading out to the baggage car. That car was always locked. The cowboy even knocked on the door, but nobody was going to open it. Like in the movies, he climbed up onto the roof. The conductor eventually finished in the coach and followed the cowboy. He had climbed down onto the engine, gun drawn, demanding that the train stop.
The crew on the engine could hardly believe what was happening. He had the drop on them. Only they had a better understanding of the situation. Once he climbed down to the engine, the engineer went after him with a big chunk of coal. The cowboy almost fell out of the cab on one of the curves during the tussle, losing his gun in the process. When the train pulled into the yard, he had an interesting story to tell. The Midland was only held up by more experienced bandits.