A Ticket to Tomahawk

In 1876, Johnny Jameson boards the Tomahawk and Western Railroad's inaugural narrow-gauge run through the Colorado Rockies. The train is pulled by the lone locomotive Emma Sweeny, and Johnny is the sole passenger on this historic trip. The journey establishes the clash between frontier ambition and covert sabotage that drives the plot.

The conductor hints that rival operators hope the franchise will fail, foreshadowing trouble ahead. Shortly afterward, Dakota and his associates topple a giant boulder directly onto the rails, aiming to derail the train. Engineer Sweeny halts the engine in time, and the crew teams up to move the obstruction.

Johnny decides to walk to the town of Epitaph and latches a ride with Trancas and Gila. At the sheriff's office, he is knocked unconscious while trying to report the delay. U.S. Marshal Dodge and his granddaughter Kit prepare to greet the train and clash with the gang.

Kit is deputized as U.S. Marshal by her wounded grandfather. She and Pawnee are assigned to escort the train and confront Dawson's men who intend trouble. The posse also gathers Dakota and an Arapaho scout to keep watch over the route.

The crew learns there is no track for the next forty miles because the rails were lost at sea during transit. Bishop reveals that Emma Sweeny must be hauled by a team of mules to reach Tomahawk before the franchise deadline. To make it work, at least one paying passenger must ride, so Johnny is designated as the passenger.

Johnny is tied to the engine’s side as the mule-powered train crawls along. Chinese laundryman Long Time arrives with laundry, and Madame Adelaide with her dancing girls boards the caravan, adding a traveling show to the voyage. A pianist accompanies the group, keeping spirits high on the long ride.

During a night stop, Bat and Charley pose as telegraph repairmen while Fargo plants dynamite under the engine. Johnny wakes from sleep, alerts the group to the fuse, and Kit shoots Fargo to stop the immediate threat, though Dakota kills Fargo before he can reveal more.

Bat and Charley plant dynamite under a trestle as Johnny, Kit, and Pawnee scout ahead. The Arapaho war party attacks, but Johnny identifies Crooked Knife and manages to negotiate peace to allow the train to pass safely.

Johnny uses a rocket to signal Crooked Knife, while Kit and Dakota light fireworks to prove Johnny’s influence. With the bridge destroyed, Kit contemplates dismantling the engine and carrying it over the mountain to preserve the journey. Tensions rise as Dawson’s forces tighten their grip.

Because the track is out, the Emma Sweeny is stripped of its cab and other parts and hauled over the mountain by mules, later reassembled on the far side. Dakota sabotages the water tower, but the tender has already been filled, foiling the plan and leaving the train with enough water to proceed.

Dakota boards the moving locomotive and fights Johnny on the cabin. Kit regains consciousness and, in a decisive moment, hurls her knife, sending Dakota to his death as he falls from the train into a ravine. The attack is thwarted, but the engine remains strained.

Dawson’s gang ambushes the slowed train and tears at the boiler, but a posse and the Arapaho subdue them just short of Tomahawk. Pawnee kills Dawson with a tomahawk in the pursuit that follows. Johnny negotiates with the town mayor to extend Tomahawk’s limits, securing the franchise with seconds to spare.

Several years later Johnny is married to Kit and works as the train’s conductor, waving to Kit as their five daughters—named after Madame Adelaide’s dancers—watch from the platform. He has settled into family life and no longer travels as a lone drummer, even as his stories remain on the rails.