Equally important is what the men were not told. They were not told that the train would be guarded. This is an important point. I2 means either that plans were drawn up for the robbery one month before -when there were no guards on the trains - or else that the presence of the guards was known by the planners; who elected not to inform the men. This point is still in debate.

The men were also not told why they were stealing the insecticide in the first place. Significantly, none of them asked. Apparently it was a matter of total indifference to them.

5. They remained in the wood frame house in Ramrock until 8 rns. Then each man was issued a machine gun and a pistol. The machine guns were of the usual variety, that is, war surplus equipment sold with plugged barrels. Some other party had simply machined new barrels and replaced the original plugged barrels (cf Memorandum 245/779: Abuses of War Surplus Weaponry). The men then climbed aboard a Land Rover which was stored in the garage of the house. It had apparently been there waiting for some weeks, because it was dusty. They drove off into the desert to meet the train.

6. They arrived at an unnamed site in northeast Utah shortly after 2 Am. They carried out their preparations quickly and efficiently in the light of a full moon.

One man was sent down the tracks until he found the impedance trip sensor. He blocked the mechanism of this sensor by attaching an electronic override device. Thus no one knew for six hours that the train had been stopped farther up the tracks; it was assumed that the trip sensor had broken down.

Meanwhile four other men walked across the sand towards a half-dozen cattle grazing nearby. The robbery site was minimal rangeland and had been chosen specifically because of this. The men shot the steer nearest the tracks. The other cattle ran off at the sound of the shot.