Wagon Train



Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC 1957–62 and then on ABC 1962–65, although the network also aired daytime repeats, as Major Adams, Trailmaster and Trailmaster (post-1961 episodes without original series lead Ward Bond), from January 1963 to September 1965. The show debuted at #15 in the Nielsen ratings, rose to #2 in the next three seasons, and peaked at #1 in the 1961–62 television season. After moving to ABC in the autumn of 1962, the ratings began to decline, and Wagon Train did not again make the Top 20 listing.

The series initially starred veteran movie supporting actor Ward Bond as the wagon master, later replaced upon his death by John McIntire, and Robert Horton as the scout, subsequently replaced by Scott Miller and Robert Fuller.

The series was inspired by the 1950 film Wagon Master directed by John Ford and starring Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr. and Ward Bond, and harkens back to the early widescreen wagon train epic The Big Trail (1930) starring John Wayne and featuring Bond in his first major screen appearance playing a supporting role. Horton's buckskin outfit as the scout in the first season of the television series resembles Wayne's, who also played the wagon train's scout in the earlier film.

Historical background
As a serial anthology, the series told the not well chronicled story of the million-plus, very ordinary people, from all over the world (not just the Eastern United States), who trekked in Conestoga wagons (pulled by horses or oxen), from the "frontier" to start new lives. At the time, the "frontier" included cities and towns such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, Saint Louis, and Independence (Missouri). Wagon trekkers included individuals, individual families, and groups of families, often representing a particular racial, religious, or ethnic character. Their treks brought them to settle the area from Nebraska to what would become the states of Oregon, Washington, and California.

The global part of this migration began as a trickle, of just America's own Easterners, after the Louisiana Purchase and before the Mexican War, but the global influx really got started after the concurrent events of the disruptive revolutions in Europe of the Revolution of 1824 and the Revolution of 1848, as well as the California Gold Rush of 1849. This last event was the world's first event for which accurate notice of its impact was assured by modern systems of communication (telegraph networks, mass circulation newspapers, scheduled ocean voyaging, and systems of post roads and postal communications), within a year, all around the world, regardless of the remoteness or distance involved.

The migration was completely individualized by each person, or their families or family groups. The most organized portion of the whole trip was the wagon train “trek” itself, which was in fact a private business venture with no government regulation. It was a true story where the nature of the historical facts has made it ripe for storytelling.

Synopsis
The show chronicles the adventures of a wagon train as it makes its way from Missouri to California. There were 284 episodes in 8 seasons: the first aired on September 18, 1957, and the final segment was broadcast on May 2, 1965. Some of the actors appearing on Wagon Train included Ward Bond as wagon master Major Seth Adams (seasons 1–4), Robert Horton as scout Flint McCullough (seasons 1–5), John McIntire as wagon master Christopher Hale (seasons 4–8), Robert Fuller as scout Cooper Smith (seasons 7–8), Scott Miller as Duke Shannon (seasons 5–7), Michael Burns as Barnaby West (seasons 4–8), Frank McGrath as Charlie Wooster (cook, seasons 1–8), and Terry Wilson as Bill Hawks (seasons 1-8). McIntire replaced Bond as wagon master upon Bond's death at age 57, and Fuller replaced Horton as scout a season after Horton opted to depart, an obvious choice since Fuller had already played a lead in another western series (Laramie on NBC) and physically resembled Horton. Horton and Fuller even shared the same birthday, albeit nine years apart. While Horton's character generally wore a black hat onscreen, Fuller wore a white one.

Ward Bond was billed above Robert Horton in the opening credits, but Horton was later billed above relative newcomer John McIntire, and McIntire and Fuller rotated top billing from episode to episode when Fuller joined the series in the seventh season. During the sixth season, Horton had left and Fuller had not yet replaced him, so McIntire carried the show with the supporting cast. Neither Bond nor McIntire, both veterans of dozens of supporting roles in movies, routinely played the lead in theatrical films, although Bond did in at least one B-picture. Rivals Bond and Horton frequently quarreled on the set, an extensively publicized development at the time, lending an element of verisimilitude to their disputes within the episodes themselves.

The series aired for most of its run in black-and-white. That briefly changed during the show's fifth season (1961–62) on NBC, to help promote the sales of parent company RCA's color television sets.

These five episodes were aired in color:
 * October 4, 1961: "The Kitty Albright Story" (with Polly Bergen as Albright)
 * November 1, 1961: "The Jenna Douglas Story" (with Carolyn Jones)
 * December 6, 1961: "The Lizbeth Ann Calhoun Story" (with Dana Wynter)
 * February 7, 1962: "The Lonnie Fallon Story" (with Gary Clarke)
 * March 14, 1962: "The Amos Billings Story" (with Paul Fix)

The series returned to its original black-and-white format for its first season (1962–63) on ABC, damaging the ratings, but the following season, as the series expanded to 90 minutes, was entirely in color. In the final season the series reverted to both black and white and the 60-minute format. It was one of only a few series ever to switch to color and then revert to black and white. These switches, along with a time slot move to Sunday evenings for the first time, were significant contributors to the declining ratings that led to the series' cancellation in the spring of 1965.

Throughout its run, the series used the cut-down, shortened wagons common to television series budgets, as opposed to the full-length oxen-drawn Conestoga wagons prominent in a forerunner of the show, the 1930 wagon train film The Big Trail, which features 27-year-old Ward Bond supporting 23-year-old John Wayne. Occasionally film clips from Hollywood movies, depicting a train of Conestogas, were edited into the episodes.

In several episodes of the first season Major Adams says the line "That'll be the day!" which was a tag line said by John Wayne in the 1956 film The Searchers in which Bond also appeared.

Dating the stories
In a first-season episode Adams says the war has been over for five years (suggesting the first season takes place in 1870, although, in "The Major Adams Story", part 1, it is clear that Adams had taken trains west in previous years, commencing "as soon as the war was over"). In season two, reference is made to the war ending six years earlier (1871) and to the presidential nomination of Ulysses S. Grant (1868), a neighbor of Adams before the war and eventually his commanding officer. In "Little Girl Lost" (season 8, episode 12), Charlie states that the year is 1869. In season three (in "The Vincent Eaglewood Story") Grant and Colfax are identified as the current President and VP, which dates it as Grant's first term (March 1869 to March 1873); but also in season three (in "The Countess Baranof Story") the storyline involves the impending sale of Alaska by Russia, but that transaction actually took place in 1867 under Pres. Andrew Johnson. "The Bernal Sierra Story" (first season) made extensive reference to the ongoing revolution in Mexico pitting Benito Juárez against Maximilian I of Mexico (aka Emperor Maximilian)--but that uprising ended decisively with Maximillian's capture and execution in 1867. Also in season three, an adventure involving the Mexican revolution led by Porfirio Díaz, which began in 1871 ("The Stagecoach Story", season 3, ep 1, broadcast Sept 30, 1959). "The Cathy Eckhardt Story" (fourth season, broadcast November 9, 1960) clearly shows the year is 1870, but in "The Charlene Brenton Story" (late third season, broadcast June 8, 1960) reference is made to Bill Hawks' having read the novel Ben-Hur, which was not published until 1880. "The Sam Pulaski Story" (Season 7, episode 8, broadcase November 4, 1963) misplaces Hell's Kitchen as the Brooklyn waterfront instead of the west side of mid-Manhattan, and dates the story as 1868 although the name Hell's Kitchen was not used for the neighborhood until years later. The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, following approximately the same route as a wagon train from St. Joseph to Sacramento. This would have made wagon trains obsolete by the time most episodes in the series take place; however, little reference is made to railroads in the West during the series.

Seth Adams and Bill Hawks
Like Rawhide and most western television series of the 1950s and 1960s, the show is set a few years after the American Civil War, but whereas there were few Indians in Rawhide, they often turned up in Wagon Train, causing the wagons to form a circle.

In the very early episodes of the first season, Bill Hawks has a smaller role - as a passenger, not a team member, referred to and addressed as "Mr. Hawks", and traveling in a wagon with his wife, Emily. By the time of "The Major Adams Story", later in the first year, he is both a team member and a wagon owner - bringing his wife Emily (played by Irene Corlett and Irene Windust in different episodes) west. Emily explains that Bill and Major Adams went into the wagon train business "right after the war" (but only now, circa 1870, bringing his wife west). In "The Sacramento Story" at the end of Season 1, it is mentioned that she is left in Sacramento while Adams, Wooster, and Bill Hawkes will take a boat around South America to commence a new wagon train in the coming Spring. However, in "The Barnaby West Story", Hawks says that he never married.

In "The Major Adams Story" it is explained that Seth Adams had commanded a militia group (apparently in Philadelphia) and they enlisted en masse in the Union Army in 1861, that Bill Hawks was Sergeant to Major Adams and that Wooster was a late enlistment as a private (in various episodes it's mentioned that their regiment was under Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant). However, a different story in "The Colter Craven Story" (season 4), we are told that in 1860 Adams and Hawks were partners in a lumber enterprise in Galena, Illinois, and on the eve of the Civil War, Adams headed up the 2nd Illinois Volunteers - although without a bit of military knowledge - and was given guidance by old friend "Sam", then a resigned former captain and a civilian but subsequently General of the Army U.S. Grant, who - encountering Adams again after the battle of Shiloh (April 1862) - gave him a battlefield promotion from Lieutenant to Major (in "The Colter Craven Story", Season 4, episode 9, broadcast November 23, 1960). In "The Willy Moran Story" it is mentioned that Major Adams fought in the Battle of Gettysburg.

Additionally, around 1859 - perhaps before setting up the lumber business in Galena, Adams and Hawkes were (briefly) prize fight promoters in New York City, generally setting up matches and taking bets on their boxer, known as "the Tinsmith" ("The Dan Hogan Story", Season 1, episode 33, broadcast May 14, 1958).

In the two-part "Major Adams Story" (season one, episodes 30, 31 trans April 23 and 30, 1958), viewers learn of Major Adams' Civil War background and his association in the Union Army with Wooster and Bill Hawks. The two episodes begin with Adams stopping to visit the grave of a lady love (in Arizona, hundreds of miles from their established route), whose tombstone shows that she had died in 1868. By that time, Adams had been leading wagon trains for several years (which would tend to conflict with the mentions of his Civil War combat). The episode then goes into a flashback.

Flint McCullough and Charlie Wooster
In "The Major Adams Story" (1958), Charlie Wooster was a private in the Union Army who, by chance, was assigned to Major Adams's company and promptly proved himself useless for combat but claimed some experience as a cook and, when assigned to that position, did quite well. Wooster did not excel at anything else; so he became a cook in the army. In the first episode he was clean-shaven, but he quickly grew a beard. McCullough had previously been a stagecoach driver. Douglas Kennedy appears in this episode as Colonel Hillary. Normally, each episode is the story of one person, after whom that episode is named, and their problems are resolved through the program.

"The Flint McCullough Story" (season two, ep 15 trans Jan 14, 1959) is also largely a flashback to his brief Civil War experience in the Confederate Army. McCullough had been born in Virginia, but both his parents died when he was a small child, evidently at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, where he was promptly adopted by the historical frontiersman, Jim Bridger (1804-1881). Circa 1862, at approximately the age of 19, McCullough felt duty-bound to enlist in the Confederate Army because of his Virginia birth. He was recruited by a Col. Taylor who had established a Confederate encampment in Wyoming near Fort Bridger. It turned out that Taylor intended to use his western recruits not as regular soldiers but as a guerrilla force to plunder gold shipments and the like to finance the Confederate cause. In this episode, McCullough detours from the wagon train to revisit Fort Bridger and learns he will once again meet his former ruthless commanding officer who is responsible for war crimes (including the wanton murder of McCullough's sweetheart), and whom McCullough vowed to kill if he ever tracked him down; at the episode's conclusion we return to the present and the ex-officer turns up, only for a shocked McCullough to discover that misfortune - prison experience and/or some serious illness—has left the man virtually a vegetable, a "punishment" apparently handed down by a higher authority. McCullough's adoption and training by Jim Bridger is also mentioned in "The River Crossing", and in "The Path of the Serpent" (February 1961). For some years after his discharge from the Confederate Army, McCullough was a driver for the Jameson Stage Coach line, between Sacramento and St. Louis ("The Stagecoach Story", season 3, ep 1, trans Sept 30, 1959), before becoming a scout for the wagon train.

Other backstories
In "The Sacramento Story", which was the last episode in the first season, the wagon train finally arrives in California after a three-month journey. Some stars from earlier episodes appear briefly as disembarking passengers. At the end of the show, Flint McCullough has his $400 pay for the journey, says his goodbyes and rides off. Adams knows he'll spend the money on girls, do a number of jobs when it is gone, and then find another wagon train for which to scout. With all the other wagons gone, there is just Adams, Hawks and Wooster. They plan to take a ship back around the tip of South America and back to Boston. Instead, in the first episode of the second season, the trio is shanghaied (kidnapped and forced to join the crew of a ship) in San Francisco but jump ship in New Orleans and end up back in St. Joseph, Missouri, with McCullough ready to take another train west. In later seasons the series was more episodic and paid less attention to the progress of the train along its route over the course of the season.

The season-two episode "The Last Man" (episode 10, trans Feb 11, 1959) guest-starred Dan Duryea as the half-crazed sole survivor of a "lost" wagon train that had vanished in a snowed-in pass a year earlier; Adams and McCullough, in a jointly featured story, now face their train being condemned to an identical fate, as their wagons are similarly stalled alongside the "dead" train. It is not stated but implied that the sole survivor had to resort to cannibalism as people died off in order to survive—this grim episode was inspired by an actual, wintertime, wagon train disaster (the Donner Party) in 1846.

From season two some episodes were also denoted: "Tonight Starring . . . " after the initial credit for the two stars and show title were put up; these were the individual featured episodes of either Ward Bond or Robert Horton. Bond's tales normally were set on the train, while Horton's would usually involve the scout having ridden on ahead away from the train.

On May 6, 1959, just four months before he joined the new series Laramie on NBC, later Wagon Train costar Robert Fuller appears with Ruta Lee as a happily married young couple in the episode "The Kate Parker Story", with Virginia Grey in the starring role. Fuller as Chris Finley seeks to turn from gambling and become a responsible husband. Evvie, his wife, is seriously injured in a wagon accident. The Finleys contrast strikingly with an older couple on the wagon train, Kate Parker and her husband, Jonas, played by Warren Stevens, who have a loveless marriage. Trapped in snow in the mountains, presumably the Sierra Nevadas, the greedy Jonas leaves the Finleys behind to wait for reinforcements, and he forces the unwilling Kate to drive their wagon. Kate wrecks the wagon and Jonas leaves on foot with her money. Kate is given essential shelter by illiterate mountain man Boone Caulder, played by Royal Dano, whom she finds wise despite his lack of education.

On June 3, 1959, near the end of the second season, John McIntire guest starred in "The Andrew Hale Story", arguably unrelated to his later starring role as wagonmaster Chris Hale (who mentioned having a preacher for a brother). This Andrew Hale is a minister mistakenly on the run who is found dying on the desert. He soon displays great knowledge of healing and spiritual matters and restores the faith of many on the wagon train. Others making appearances in this episode are James Best and Clu Gulager, who portrays photographer Elliott Garrison, who blackmails a young woman on the wagon train. Afterwards, Gulager joined the cast of NBC's The Tall Man, and, later, The Virginian.

After Ward Bond's sudden death on November 5, 1960, several episodes featuring him were still shown, but one was held back, with Robert Horton then carrying the lead. Episodes crediting but not featuring both Bond and his replacement, John McIntire, were then alternated for a time until the final Ward Bond episode was screened as a tribute to him ("The Beth Pearson Story", season four, ep 22, trans Feb 22, 1961), then a few weeks later McIntire actually debuted as the new wagonmaster in 'The Christopher Hale Story' (ep 25, trans March 15, 1961) in a tale where the train—without any on-screen explanation of Adams' absence—is awaiting the arrival of a new wagonmaster. Hale, a retired wagonmaster whose family has been massacred, has just joined the train as a traveler; guest star Lee Marvin then arrives as the quickly unpopular sadistic new wagonmaster, who ultimately gets his just deserts after a confrontation with Hale, and by the end of the tale Hale is invited to take over as the new wagonmaster, a post he reluctantly accepts. It is subsequently mentioned ("The Gus Morgan Story", season seven, ep 3, trans Sept 20, 1963) that Chris Hale had been a government surveyor in the West and therefore is very familiar with the terrain.

One of the last Ward Bond episodes, "The River Crossing", broadcast in December 1960, offer some insights. Reference is made to a terrible accident that occurred to a wagon in one of Adams's wagon trains five years earlier, and Adams reminds Wooster that they have crossed this spot at least a dozen times before, which suggests they had worked together on wagon trains for at least a dozen years. A cloudburst forces about fifty wagons to wait on one side of the river and this is spoken of as "half the train", suggesting the entire wagon train has about a hundred wagons (only about twelve ever appeared on the screen at once).

In season 8, a year after Robert Fuller became scout Cooper Smith, it was revealed (in "The Bob Stuart Story", ep 1, Sept. 1964) that, ten years earlier, Cooper Smith had been the leader of supposedly the most determined guns-for-hire team in what was described as 'the Kansas range war'. He had been persuaded to leave this line of work when he was hospitalized after a marshal shot him in the back with a shotgun.

Later both "The Duke Shannon Story" (season four, ep 30, trans April 26, 1961) and "The Barnaby West Story" (season six, ep 37, trans June 5, 1963) introduce further regular cast members, although the sudden departure of Robert Horton's original co-lead character scout Flint McCullough following the show's move from NBC to ABC in 1962, was never explained on screen.

Cast



 * Ward Bond as Major Seth Adams (1957–61, seasons 1–4). Bond died of a heart attack at age 57 on November 5, 1960, in the middle of the fourth season, and was replaced by John McIntire as wagon master. No explanation was ever given on the show.
 * Robert Horton as Flint McCullough (1957–62, seasons 1–5).
 * John McIntire as Christopher Hale (1961–65, seasons 4-8). McIntire had guest starred in a Season 3 episode in the role of preacher Andrew Hale, probably a brother (Chris Hale spoke of having a brother who was a preacher).
 * Robert Fuller as Cooper Smith (1963–65, seasons 7–8). Fuller and McIntire rotated top billing from week to week on the series.
 * Frank McGrath as Charlie Wooster (1957–65, seasons 1–8).
 * Terry Wilson as Bill Hawks (1957–65, seasons 1–8).
 * Michael Burns as Barnaby West (1960–65, seasons 6–8).
 * Scott Miller (aka; Denny Miller) as Duke Shannon (1961–64, seasons 5–7).

Notable guest stars

 * Anna Maria Alberghetti carried the lead in "The Conchita Vasquez Story" (1959), cast as part of a gang of Comancheros who intend to attack the wagon train to steal rifles headed to the United States Army. Conchita decides to leave the Comancheros and move west after she falls in love with the scout Flint McCullough, but she is killed by bullet from her own people when they ambush the wagon train.
 * Roscoe Ates appeared in the 1958 episode "The Sacramento Story" in his later familiar role of "Old Timer".
 * Claude Akins appeared in four episodes during the show's first four seasons
 * Carla Balenda appeared as Martha Leeds in "The Annie Duggan Story" (1963), credited as Sally Bliss
 * Eddie Albert appeared as Kurt Davos in the 1962 episode "The Kurt Davos Story" as a blacksmith forced to leave the train by a crippling injury.
 * Martin Balsam appeared as Marcey Jones in the 1964 episode "The Whipping".
 * Trevor Bardette, as Will Rudge in "The Levi Hale Story" (1962), as Sheriff Lund in "The Lily Legend Story" and as Henry Ludlow in "The Antone Rose Story" (both 1963)
 * William Bendix, in the second season, played a sea captain who had shanghaied Adams and Wooster in "Around the Horn".
 * Charles Bickford and Roger Smith, five months before Smith was cast on 77 Sunset Strip, appear in "The Daniel Barrister Story", which aired on April 16, 1958 (Season 1, Episode 29). In this segment, Daniel Barrister, played by Bickford, objects to medical treatment for his wife, Jenny, the victim of a wagon accident. Meanwhile, Dr. Peter H. Culver, played by Smith, has successfully fought a smallpox epidemic in a nearby town. He is brought to the wagon train by scout Flint McCullough to treat Mrs. Barrister. Viewers never know if Barrister yielded to allow Dr. Culver to treat Jenny.
 * Theodore Bikel appeared in "The Dr. Denker Story," season five, episode 14, in the role of a traveling musician who is transporting a mysterious shipment of dynamite to San Francisco for the United States Army.
 * Ernest Borgnine appeared five times on Wagon Train, including twice as "Willy Moran" (albeit for only a few moments in Moran's second appearance). In the pilot episode on September 18, 1957, Borgnine's Moran is revealed as a former boxer consumed by alcoholism but seeking sobriety. Michael Winkelman guest starred as young "Ben Palmer" in this episode, as he was beginning his regular role as Little Luke McCoy on ABC's The Real McCoys. On October 1, 1958, Borgnine reprised the role of Willy Moran in the episode "Around the Horn." Major Adams had fought with Moran at the Battle of Gettysburg.
 * Neville Brand appeared in "The Zebedee Titus Story" in 1964 as an aging pioneer who joins the wagon train as a scout.
 * John Carradine appeared in supporting roles in the 1958 episode. "The Dora Gray Story", and the 1960 episode, "The Colter Craven Story".
 * Lon Chaney, Jr. appeared as Louis Roque in "The Jose Morales Story", Season 4, episode 5 (1960), and in the 1961 episode, "The Chalice", as Carstairs.
 * Jan Clayton and Beulah Bondi highlight "The Prairie Story", written by Jean Holloway, which examines how the forbidden prairie, particularly the strong wind, plays havoc on the lives of the women on the wagon train. This theme is also examined in the novel The Wind by Dorothy Scarborough. Robert Horton carries the lead in this episode which aired on February 1, 1961, three months after the death of Ward Bond.
 * Lou Costello appeared as the title character in one of his last roles, "The Tobias Jones Story" (1958). It was written by Harry Von Zell, the announcer and comedian from the Burns and Allen television series, who also appeared in that episode. Von Zell also appeared in the 1964 episode "The Link Cheney Story".
 * Walter Coy, one of the narrators of the 1955-56 Frontier anthology series on NBC, appeared five times on Wagon Train between 1957 and 1964.
 * Johnny Crawford, child actor best known for his role as Mark McCain on The Rifleman, appeared in "The Sally Potter Story" (1958).
 * Yvonne Craig guest-starred in "The Link Cheney Story" (1964).
 * Ronnie Dapo, then a child actor, appeared in the episode "The Greenhorn Story". He was later a regular on Room for One More and The New Phil Silvers Show.
 * Linda Darnell guest starred in "The Dora Gray Story" (January 29, 1958) as an attractive young woman trying to reach San Francisco. Dora is traveling west with an unsavory peddler, played by John Carradine, who is selling guns to the Indians. Robert Horton carries this episode, with Mike Connors and Dan Blocker portraying corrupt U.S. Army officers.
 * Bette Davis appeared in three episodes as different characters; as Bettina May (1961), Ella Lindstrom (1959) and Madame Elizabeth McQueeney (1959).
 * Laraine Day played the title character in "The Cassie Vance Story" episode.
 * Frank Dekova plays the lead in "The Isaiah Quickfox Story" (January 31, 1965), a mystery set in a ghost town amid a stunning bat cave. Andrew Prine and John Doucette guest star in the roles of Eric Camden and Bert Enders, respectively. Cast members Robert Fuller and Frank McGrath carry this episode.
 * Angie Dickinson portrays the lead role in "The Clara Duncan Story" (1959).
 * John Doucette played the title characters in the 1963 episode, "The Michael McGoo Story" as a retired sea captain, and the 1964 episode, "The Ben Engel Story", as well as supporting roles in six other episodes.
 * Charles Drake played the title characters in the 1958 episode, "The Charles Maury Story" as an ex-Confederate marauder, and the 1960 episode, "The Sam Livingston Story" as a wagon driver with bitter memories, and the 1963 episode, "The Hollister John Garrison Story" as a Southerner with a desperate secret, and the 1964 episode, "The Link Cheney Story" as a wounded gambler hoping to retire, and supporting roles in two other episodes.
 * Dan Duryea made seven appearances on the series, his first role being that of the title character in "The Cliff Grundy Story", broadcast on December 25, 1957. Cliff Grundy, an old friend of Flint McCullough's, joins with the Wagon Train in time for a Buffalo hunt. After an accident, Cliff and Flint are stranded in the wild, trying to survive until they can reach a small town. This was one of Dan Duryea's rare "sympathetic" roles, and one that he would reprise for the final Wagon Train episode of the same season. In his fourth appearance on Wagon Train, he played a mentally unstable man obsessed by demons and superstitions in "The Bleymier Story", broadcast November 16, 1960, eleven days after the death of Ward Bond. Samuel Bleymier opposes the interest shown to his daughter, Belle, portrayed by Elen Willard, by a young pioneer, Justin Claiborne, played by James Drury, some two years before the start of his The Virginian series. The episode is filmed mostly in the dark or during heavy rains, high winds, and a cyclone and involves pioneers passing through a Sioux burial ground.
 * Jena Engstrom appeared three times. In 1961 she was featured in "The Jenna Douglas Story" with guest star Carolyn Jones. In 1962 she was featured in "The Amos Billings Story" guest-starring Paul Fix. And in 1964 she appeared in support of Joseph Wiseman in "The Santiago Quesada Story."
 * Ron Foster appeared twice in the 1957 episodes "The John Cameron Story" and "The Julia Gage Story".
 * Med Flory was cast as Sheriff Gile in "The Nancy Palmer Story", with Audrey Meadows in the guest-starring role (1961).
 * Eduard Franz appeared in the lead in 1957 in "The Les Rand Story", and James Philbrook had a minor role in the same episode.
 * Nina Foch appeared as the title character in "The Clara Beauchamp Story".
 * Louise Fletcher appeared as different characters in two Season 3 episodes.
 * George Gobel appeared as Major Adams' country cousin in "The Horace Best Story", the Season 4 premiere episode.
 * Don Grady appeared in "The Christine Elliot Story" (1960).
 * Lorne Greene appeared in "The Vivian Carter Story" (1959).
 * Tom Greenway appeared as Dr. Quinn in "The Dan Hogan Story" (1958).
 * Kevin Hagen appeared three times on Wagon Train as Lansing in "The Willy Moran Story" (1957) and as Claymore in "The Nels Stack Story" (1957) and "The Annie MacGregory Story" (1958).
 * Peter Helm appeared three times on Wagon Train in 1962 and 1963: "The Daniel Clay Story", "The Wagon Train Mutiny", and in the title role "The Tom O’Neal Story", with Myron Healey cast as his father.
 * Dwayne Hickman appeared in the title guest-starring role in "The Clay Shelby Story" in December 1964. Celia Kaye played Ann Shelby, and Richard Carlson and Mort Mills were cast as military officers.
 * Darby Hinton, a child actor, appeared in March 1964 as Benjie Diel in the 75-minute episode "The Ben Engel Story".
 * Dennis Holmes, another child actor, appeared three times on Wagon Train, including the role of Danny Blake in "Those Who Stay Behind", along with Peter Brown and Bruce Dern (November 8, 1964).
 * Dennis Hopper appeared as the title character in "The Emmett Lawton Story," as the crippled son of the murdered sheriff in a town taken over by outlaws, March 1963.
 * Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., as Padre in "The Don Alvarado Story", June 21, 1961, with Ed Nelson as Sheriff Donovan
 * Sherry Jackson appeared as the title character in "The Geneva Balfour Story," which was originally broadcast on January 20, 1964.
 * Anne Jeffreys and her husband, Robert Sterling, play a couple with an unusual "half-marriage" courtship arrangement brought about by an attack of the fever in the episode "The Julie Gage Story", the fourteenth episode of the series broadcast on December 18, 1957.
 * Brad Johnson and Susan Oliver in the title role appear in the November 9, 1960, episode "The Cathy Eckhardt Story", with Johnson cast as Will Eckhardt.
 * I. Stanford Jolley appeared ten times, not in the lead role of an episode.
 * Carolyn Jones appeared during the show's first four episodes, also as the title characters in "The Jenna Douglas Story" (1961) as traumatized woman found by the wagon train, and in "The Molly Kincaid Story" (1963) as an escaped captive of the Indians intent on punishing the husband who abandoned her.
 * Dick Jones was cast as John Hunter in "The Wagon Train Mutiny" (1962).
 * Brett King appeared five times on Wagon Train, his last as a lieutenant in "The Sandra Cummings Story" (1963).
 * Charles Laughton appeared as Albert Farnsworth in "The Albert Farnsworth Story". (1960)
 * Peter Lorre as the title character in "The Alexander Portlass Story" (March 1960).
 * Dayton Lummis appeared in three episodes: as Maj. Barham in "The Martha Barham Story" (NBC, 1959), as T.J. Gingle in "The John Turnbull Storey" (NBC, 1962) and as the Rev. Philip Marshall in "The Myra Marshall Story" (ABC, 1963), with Suzanne Pleshette in the title role.
 * Lee Marvin appeared as Mexican bandit Jose Morales in the Season 4 episode "The Jose Morales Story". After 20 episodes he appeared as newly hired wagonmaster Jud Benedict in the Season 4 episode that introduced the Chris Hale character, "The Christopher Hale Story".
 * Tyler McVey appeared six times on Wagon Train, including a two-part 1960 episode "Trial for Murder".
 * Audrey Meadows played the title character in "The Nancy Palmer Story" (1961).
 * Joyce Meadows appeared three times: as Martha Williams in "The Conchita Vasquez Story" (1959), as Rheba Polke in "The Jed Polke Story" and as Melanie in "The Artie Matthewson Story" (both 1961).
 * Ralph Meeker appeared in the title role of "A Man Called Horse" (season one, ep 26, trans March 26, 1958) in a story that served as the basis for the Richard Harris film A Man Called Horse a decade later.
 * Burgess Meredith guest starred in "The Grover Allen Story" (1964).
 * Archie Moore, African-American prizefighter, appeared as a cowboy in "The Geneva Balfour Story," which was originally broadcast on January 20, 1964.
 * Read Morgan appeared three times: as Ben Denike in "The Vincent Eaglewood Story" with Wally Cox in the title role (1959), as Curly Horse in "The Martha Barham Story" with Ann Blyth (1959) and as Jake in "The Myra Marshall Story".
 * Ricardo Montalban appeared as the title character in the second episode of the series, entitle "The Jean LeBec Story".
 * Leonard Nimoy appeared in four episodes—twice as a Mexican, once as an Indian and once as one of three Spanish brothers.
 * Prolific western actor Gregg Palmer appeared in three episodes: as Groton in "The Mary Halstead Story" (1957), as Paul Dawson in "The Riley Gratton Story" (1957) and as Raleigh in "The Jose Morales Story" (1960).
 * John Pickard appeared as Jed Otis in the 1959 episode "The Matthew Lowry Story".
 * Ronald Reagan, in one of his final acting roles prior to his entering politics, played Capt. Paul Winters in the seventh-season episode "The Fort Pierce Story," first broadcast in September 1963.
 * Michael Rennie appeared in two episodes: "The John Cameron Story" (1957) and "The Robert Harrison Clarke Story" (1963).
 * Mickey Rooney guest starred as "greenhorn" Samuel T. Evans in "The Greenhorn Story" (1959) and again as Samuel T. Evans with young wife Melanie (Olive Sturgess) in "Wagons Ho!", the 1960 season premiere. Ellen Corby played the role of Aunt 'Em in both episodes. Sturgess in her role had to wear the lowest of heels so as not to tower over the 5'2" Rooney.
 * Pippa Scott guest-starred in "The Link Cheney Story" (1964).
 * Ann Sheridan guest-starred in "The Mavis Grant Story" (1962).
 * Tom Simcox and Paul Stader guest-starred in "The Link Cheney Story" (1964).
 * Arnold Stang played the lead in "The Ah Chong Story," the tale of an ebullient Chinese cook who joins the wagon train with a rickshaw. Ah Chong produces higher quality and more reliable food service than Charlie Wooster, who has become arrogant because of success at poker playing. Ah Chong introduces wagonmaster Chris Hale and his assistant, Bill Hawks, to bird nest soup. Wooster soon sees Ah Chong as a threat in both cooking and poker and hurls insults at him. Frank Ferguson played a sheriff at the beginning of this episode, which aired near the end of the fourth season on June 14, 1961.
 * Barbara Stanwyck guest starred in "The Kate Crawley Story" (1964).
 * Rod Steiger portrayed a blind doctor heading west in "The Saul Bevins Story" (1961). The other travelers object to his inclusion on the train because of the obstacles he must overcome. Vivi Janiss plays his sister, Martha Bevins; Charles Herbert, his son, Job Bevins. Janiss also appeared in five other Wagon Train episodes.
 * Dean Stockwell appeared in four episodes, including "The Rodney Lawrence Story" (June 10, 1959), in which he portrays a young white man whose parents were massacred by other whites and he is reared by a single Indian. The Indian urges Rodney to rejoin his people when the wagon train passes through the area and soon after he joins the train he is accused of theft and murder. Scout Flint McCullough proves that Rodney is innocence and he becomes attracted to the young white woman, Mandy McCrea Cynthia Chenault. Roger Mobley plays Lawrence as a child in a flashback.
 * Karl Swenson played mountain man Jim Bridger in "The Jim Bridger Story". Francis De Sales also appeared in the episode as Mark.
 * Phyllis Thaxter was cast in the title role of "The Christine Elliott Story" (1960), in which a young woman takes a group of orphan boys, who had previously lived in her late father's orphanage, to a new life in the West. Don Grady and Gary Hunley also appear in this episode.
 * Franchot Tone appeared in the lead role in "The Malachi Hobart Story" as a traveling preacher who loses confidence in his own Christian message.
 * Johnny Washbrook appeared as Tommy Peeks in "The Swift Cloud Story", with Rafael Campos in the 1959 title role, and as Ron Pearson in "The Beth Pearson Story", with Virginia Grey in the 1961 title role.
 * John Wayne appeared briefly, obscured in shadow, in a long shot in the episode directed by John Ford, "The Colter Craven Story", in which he portrays General William Tecumseh Sherman. In this episode, Wayne is billed under the pseudonym "Michael Morris", a reference to his real name, Marion Michael Morrison. Several other regulars from "The John Ford Stock Company" also appeared, including John Carradine, Ken Curtis and Hank Worden. This episode was shown 18 days after Ward Bond's death, and is the only episode in this series directed by Ford. Wayne also played Sherman under Ford's direction in the movie How the West Was Won and was billed as "Michael Morris" for a lengthy Ford-directed cameo in the James Stewart television anthology show Flashing Spikes (1962).
 * Shelley Winters appeared during the show's first four episodes.
 * Jane Wyman appeared twice, once in the "The Doctor Willouhgby Story" (1958), as a woman doctor heading west. And, again in "The Wagon Train Mutiny" (1964).
 * Vera Miles portrays the lead role in "The Sister Rita Story"
 * Harry von Zell guest-starred in "The Link Cheney Story" (1964) and "The Tobias Jones Story" (1958).
 * Dick York guest-starred in "The Michael Malone Story" (1964) as Mitchell.
 * Tony Young guest-starred as Quent Loomis in "The Melanie Craig Story", with Myrna Fahey in the title role (1964).
 * The episode "Alias Bill Hawks" is a story of townspeople covering for a murder and trying to dig a needed artesian well. Terry Wilson, as the real "Bill Hawks", arrives to put the puzzle together. Ed Nelson guest stars. Jeanne Cooper of The Young and the Restless fame, guest stars in an episode entitled "The Whipping", shown during season 7 (1963–64) of Wagon Train.

Theme music
The first season theme "Wagon Train" was written by Henri René and Bob Russell, and lyrics were not used. The theme was conducted by Revue musical director Stanley Wilson. In the second season, a new more modern sounding theme was introduced. "(Roll Along) Wagon Train" was written by Sammy Fain and Jack Brooks and sung by Johnny O'Neill. About midway through the second season this was replaced with an instrumental version by Stanley Wilson. In the third season a more traditional sounding score was introduced. "Wagons Ho!" was written and conducted by Jerome Moross, who adapted it from a passage of music he had written for the 1959 film The Jayhawkers. This theme would last through the series' run and is the most remembered Wagon Train theme. Stanley Wilson re-recorded "Wagons Ho!" for the last two seasons.

Cultural influences
Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek as "Wagon Train to the stars".

In the film Stand by Me (1986), Gordie (Wil Wheaton) quips while the boys are camping (in their quest to find the dead body of Ray Brower): "'Wagon Train is a cool show, but you ever notice they never get anywhere? They just keep on wagon-training.'"

Daytime network repeats and syndication
When the original Ward Bond episodes were broadcast weekday afternoons on ABC beginning in 1963, a new series title "Seth Adams Trailmaster" was given to the episode to avoid viewer confusion because Wagon Train was still on the ABC evening schedule. A new theme song, the "Trailmaster Theme", written and conducted by Stanley Wilson, was used for these syndicated episodes. The later episodes from the John McIntyre era were syndicated under the simpler title "Trailmaster". All episodes eventually reverted to their original titling after the series left the air. The 75-minute episodes were usually syndicated separately, sometimes shown on local stations as "movies".

On January 1, 2011, the Encore Western Channel began airing the series, starting with a marathon of episodes, then airing Monday–Friday after The Virginian.

DVD releases
Timeless Media Group has released all eight seasons on DVD in Region 1. The seventh season is entitled The Complete Color Season as it was the only season of the series to be filmed in color.