Unlike most films at the time which had a simple plot line set in one location, The Lonedale Operator "intercuts three primary spaces—the telegraph office interior, the criminals outside, and the rescue train." Although audiences in 1911 were not used to such editing, the use of the telegraph helped them understand the crosscutting between scenes in such a way that they could follow the plot. The film is also significant for Griffith's use of a close-up of a wrench, which the girl had pretended was a gun. At the time of the film's release, close-ups were still uncommon. The Lonedale Operator illustrates Griffith's growing mastery of the medium.
A print of the film survives in the film archive of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The Lonedale Operator was remade in 2005 by students at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences who shot the film against a green screen and then digitally added the backgrounds.