The opening scenes were a thematic re-creation of scenes from the 1932 Universal serial "The Lost Special" which cut from a floor show at the Red Lantern to the back room where the gangsters hung out. The chief gangster was a partner in a railroad that was shipping gold from the Golconda mining concern, but was secretly stealing the gold (like the money for the orphanage in "Expose"). The serial was one of many adaptations of an 1898 A.C. Doyle story by that name, which was inspired by an actual accident on Sept. 22, 1890, wherein a locomotive (#115) fell into a sink hole in proximity to mines and disappeared. "Lost" took its name and much else from "The Lost Special" (plus its adaptations and many of the stories collected with it in Doyle's "Tales of Terror and Mystery") and details about Flight 815 (which supposedly disappeared on Sept. 22) from its historic inspiration. It seems that "Watchmen" (by acknowledged Doyle fan Alan Moore) also alluded to "The Lost Special", so it's no surprise "Lost" alluded heavily to "Watchmen".
The opening scenes were a thematic re-creation of scenes from the 1932 Universal serial "The Lost Special" which cut from a floor show at the Red Lantern to the back room where the gangsters hung out. The chief gangster was a partner in a railroad that was shipping gold from the Golconda mining concern, but was secretly stealing the gold (like the money for the orphanage in "Expose"). The serial was one of many adaptations of an 1898 A.C. Doyle story by that name, which was inspired by an actual accident on Sept. 22, 1890, wherein a locomotive (#115) fell into a sink hole in proximity to mines and disappeared. "Lost" took its name and much else from "The Lost Special" (plus its adaptations and many of the stories collected with it in Doyle's "Tales of Terror and Mystery") and details about Flight 815 (which supposedly disappeared on Sept. 22) from its historic inspiration. It seems that "Watchmen" (by acknowledged Doyle fan Alan Moore) also alluded to "The Lost Special", so it's no surprise "Lost" alluded heavily to "Watchmen".