The Digital Railroad

My favourite character in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” is neither Butch nor Sundance but Woodcock, whose undying loyalty is to EH Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad - an enterprise that was repeatedly the target of outlaws of the Wild West.

It turned out that Woodcock knew a good thing when he saw one in Mr Harriman; for at the dawn of the Industrial Age whoever controlled the railroad tracks controlled the highway of commerce - and much of the economic benefit accruing therefrom.