The Great Train Robbery Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1850's

The novel is set in Victorian England in the 1850's when England was the reigning power in the world and was the epicentre of urbanization. This was the period when railway transport had become popular, leading to the central plot of this novel.

Answer: False

The 'Great Train Robbery' is a novel based on an actual train robbery of gold that occurred in 1855. The main protagonists in the actual robbery were William Pierce and Edward Agar; in the novel their names were changed to Edward Pierce and Robert Agar.

Answer: Michael Crichton

The film based on this novel was made in 1979 and titled 'The First Great Train Robbery' and was directed by Michael Crichton himself. Edwin Porter was the director of the 1903 film titled 'The Great Train Robbery'. Spielberg of course, was the director of Crichton's 'Jurassic Park' and 'Lost World'.

Answer: Gold for payment to the British troops

The firm of Huddleston and Bradford was designated to arrange for payment to the British troops fighting in the Crimean war. Pierce wanted to rob this gold being shipped by train.

Answer: 4

The gold was being transported in two specially built Chubb safes with two locks for each safe. Thus, there were a total of four locks and four keys were required to open the safes.

Answer: Fowler

Out of the four keys required to open the safes, two were in the traffic supervisor's office in the South Eastern Railway, one was with the bank's senior partner, Mr. Trent, and the last one was with Mr. Henry Fowler, the general manager of Huddleston and Bradford. He had hung the key around his neck for safekeeping.

Answer: In the wine cellar

The bank's partner, Mr. Trent, had one of the keys to the safe and he had kept it on top of the wine rack in the wine cellar of his house. Pierce and Agar managed to get into his house and, in a slick operation, got a wax impression of the key.

Answer: 64 seconds

After making a careful study of the guard outside the railway office, the train robbers realised that there was one guard who was positioned outside the office the whole night. Only once, every night at 11:30, the guard went to the toilet for exactly 64 seconds, which was the time available to Agar to enter the office, make impressions of the keys and escape.

Answer: Willy

Clean Willy William was one of the most famous snakesmen, who was adept at climbing any surface. Pierce needed him to make the wax impressions of the key kept in the railway office. During the public execution of the murderess Emma Barnes, Clean Willy escapes from prison and is sheltered by Pierce.

Answer: He made them think that he was planning a heist at Greenwich

Scotland Yard, under its head Harranby, had an inkling about Pierce's plan and had put a tail on him. To deceive the yard, Pierce went to a pawnbroker Chokee Bill, who he knew was an informer. He leaked the information that he needed guns to do a job in Greenwich.

This information was passed on to Harranby who was fooled and left for Greenwich thinking that he wanted to steal the payroll of the cable company.

Answer: As a corpse

The train company had strengthened their security measures. Therefore, Agar was disguised as a corpse and Miriam brought the coffin to be loaded onto the train, pretending to be the corpse's sister. Effective make-up made Agar look convincing as a corpse and he managed to enter the luggage van.

Answer: Burgess

Pierce had taken the train's guard Burgess on his payroll. Realising his impoverished condition, Pierce had bribed Burgess to keep quiet when the train robbery took place. Once Agar got into the train, Pierce entered through the roof and they threw the gold to their accomplice near the tracks and replaced the gold with lead shots.

Answer: He was betrayed by Agar

Agar's mistress had been caught by the police for pick pocketing. To escape the police, she betrayed Agar. Harranby threatened to deport Agar to Australia, after which he betrayed Pierce. The police then picked up Pierce and Burgess. However Miriam and Barlow could not be caught, the police could not get hold of the gold.

Answer: The Sepoy Mutiny in India

During the trial of Pierce in 1857, the Sepoy Mutiny occurred in India, when soldiers of Indian origin rebelled against the British East Indian company rule. This mutiny led to a massacre of Englishmen and women in Cawnpore (Kanpur). This important historical incident overshadowed the trial of Pierce resulting in lesser media publicity.

Answer: No, Pierce escaped from prison

Queen Victoria was reportedly fascinated by 'this most bold and dastardly rogue, whom we should like to perceive at first hand'. She also expressed a desire to see his hanging (not knowing that theft was not a capital offense). Unfortunately, her wish was not fulfilled. Even before the trail was complete, Pierce escaped while being taken to prison from court. He was aided by Barlow and Miriam.

The great train robbery paid off for Pierce and he reportedly led a life of 'splendid circumstances' in either Paris or New York. The police could not capture him and neither could they recover the loot from the robbery.