True Crime Collection

Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.6 million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8th August 1963, at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.

The plan to intercept and rob the overnight Glasgow to London mail train was based on information from an unnamed senior security officer within Royal Mail who had detailed knowledge of the amounts of money carried; he was introduced to 2 of the criminals who would carry out the raid - Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards - by a London solicitor's clerk, Brian Field.

The raid was devised over a period of months by a core team: Gordon and Buster along with Bruce Reynolds, and Charlie Wilson, with Bruce assuming the role  of "mastermind". This gang, although very successful in the criminal underworld, had virtually no experience in stopping and robbing trains, so it was agreed to enlist the help of another London gang called The South Coast Raiders. This group included Tommy Wisbey, Bob Welch, and Jim Hussey, who were already 'accomplished train robbers'. This group also included Roger Cordrey, a man who was a specialist in this field and knew how to rig the track side signals to stop the train.

Other associates were added as the organisation evolved. The final gang who took part in the raid comprised a total of 16 men.

At 18:50 on Wednesday 7th August 1963, the traveling post office "Up Special" train set off from Glasgow Central station en route to Euston Station in London. It was scheduled to arrive at Euston at 04:00 the following morning. The train was hauled by English Electric Type 4 diesel electric locomotive D326. The train consisted of 12 carriages and carried 72 Post Office staff who sorted mail during the journey.

Mail was loaded onto the train at Glasgow, during additional station stops en route, and from line side collection points where local post office staff would hang mail sacks on elevated track side hooks that were caught by nets deployed by the on board staff. Sorted mail on the train could be dropped off at the same time. The process of exchange allowed mail to be distributed locally without delaying the train with unnecessary stops. One of the carriages involved in the robbery is preserved at the Nene Valley Railway.

The second carriage, behind the engine, was known as the HVP (high value packages) coach, which carried large quantities of money and registered mail for sorting. Usually the value of the shipment was in the region of £300,000, but because the previous weekend had been a UK Bank Holiday weekend, the total on the day of the robbery was to be between £2.5 and £3 million.

In 1960, the Post Office Investigation Branch recommended the fitting of alarms to all TPOs with HVP carriages. This recommendation was implemented in 1961, but HVP carriages without alarms were retained in reserve. By August 1963, 3 HVP carriages were equipped with alarms, bars over the windows and bolts and catches on the doors, but at the time of the robbery, these carriages were out of service, so a reserve carriage without those features had to be used. The fitting of radios was also considered, but they were deemed to be too expensive, and the measure was not implemented. This carriage was kept for evidence for 7 years following the event and then burned at a scrapyard in Norfolk in the presence of police and post office officials to deter any souvenir hunters.

Just after 03:00 on 8th August, the driver, 58 year old Jack Mills from Crewe, stopped the train on the West Coast Main Line at a red signal light at Sears Crossing, Ledburn, between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington. The signal had been tampered with by the robbers: they had covered the green light and connected a battery to power the red light. The locomotive's second crew member, known as the secondman or "fireman", was 26 year old David Whitby, also from Crewe. As a signal stop was unexpected at this time and place, David climbed down from the cab to call the signalman from a line side telephone, only to find the cables had been cut. As he returned to the train he was overpowered by 1 of the robbers. Meanwhile, gang members entered the engine cabin from both sides, and as Jack grappled with 1 robber he was struck from behind by another with a cosh and rendered semi conscious.