Force from criminals on locomotive (9)
I believe the answer is:
constrain
'force' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'criminals on locomotive' is the wordplay.
'criminals' becomes 'cons'.
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'locomotive' becomes 'train' (I've seen this before).
'cons'+'train'='CONSTRAIN'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for constrain that I've seen before include "Restrict the extent of" , "Compel; constrict" , "Check" , "Compel - limit" , "Force" .)