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 show told the stories of the journey of a wagon train as it leaves post-Civil War Missouri on its way to California through the plains, deserts and Rocky Mountains. The first treks were led by gruff, but good-at-heart Major Seth Adams, backed up by his competent frontier scout, Flint McCullough. After Adams and McCullough, the wagon train was led by the avuncular Christopher Hale along with new scouts Duke Shannon and Cooper Smith. Many stories featured the trustworthy assistant wagonmaster Bill Hawks, grizzled old cook Charlie Wooster and a young orphan, Barnaby West.
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.
Promo poster from the film that inspired "Wagon Train"
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 which ran from September 18, 1957 to May 2, 1965.
The series aired for most of its run in black-and-white,
except for five color episodes:
October 4, 1961 – Polly Bergen – "Kitty Albright Story",
November 1, 1961 – Carolyn Jones – "Jenna Douglas Story",
December 6, 1961 – Dana Wynter – "Lizabeth Ann Calhoun Story",
February 7, 1962 – Gary Clarke – "Lonnie Fallon Story",
March 14, 1962 – Paul Fix – "Amos Billings Story"
The fifth season (1961–62) episode was shown in color on NBC in order to help promote the sales of parent company RCA's color television sets. The series changed networks in the fall of 1962, when it went to ABC and also returned to its original black-and-white format for the remainder of its run on ABC, which damaged the ratings. The reason for this change back to black-and-white was because even though the show had been televised in color previously, ABC didn't begin broadcasting in color until 1964. That season would be the last for the show.
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 (occasionally film clips from Hollywood movies, showing 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.