How much money was robbed in a shippment from the San Francisco Mint to a bank in the East that is the biggest single robbery in the history of the a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago and New Orleans?
Union Pacific Big Springs robbery The Union Pacific Big Springs Robbery of 1877 was a robbery of $60,000 in newly-minted $20 gold pieces being shipped from the San Francisco Mint to a bank in the East. Coverage of the sensational heist in the contemporary press made famous Sam Bass and his gang of "Black Hills Bandits." The event remains the biggest single robbery in the history of the Union Pacific Railroad.
1995 Palo Verde, Arizona derailment The 1995 Palo Verde derailment took place on October 9, 1995, when Amtrak's "Sunset Limited" was derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona on Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. The two locomotives and eight of the twelve cars derailed, four of them falling 30 feet (9 m) off a trestle bridge into a dry river bed. Mitchell Bates, a sleeping car attendant, was killed. Seventy-eight people were injured, 12 of them seriously.