The Fiend at the Throttle(1915)

The Fiend at the Throttle is a silent action film centered on Rita, a telegraph operator who learns that a freight train loaded with explosives will collide with a passenger train whose deranged engineer is barreling toward disaster. Acting fast, Rita launches a handcar onto the tracks to derail the passenger train, then climbs onto the engine's cowcatcher and fights her way into the cab. There she battles the madman conductor in a desperate struggle for control of the locomotive. Rita's quick thinking and courage ultimately prevail, allowing her to sidetrack the passenger train and avert catastrophe. The film captures the thrills and high stakes of early railway melodrama, with Rita as an unlikely but determined hero.