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.
