60 years since the Great Train Robbery
On August 8, 1963 a gang of at least 12 men robbed a Royal Mail train packed with money heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line.
The robbery consisted of 125 sacks of banknotes worth 2.6 million pounds ($7.3 million at the time). What followed was a story of prison escapes and fugitives. It was dubbed the Great Train Robbery and became known as "the heist of the century", spawning books and TV shows.
Uncoupled coaches of the Glasgow to London overnight mail train wait at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, UK, August 8, 1963, for another locomotive to haul them to London, 40 miles away, after a band of daring robbers had staged the boldest train hold-up in history. The raiders may have netted a cool £1,000,000 ($2,800,000), said officials after a quick check. The robbery began in the small hours when the bandits tampered with the signals, fixed them at red without alerting the local signal box, halted the mail train ond overpowered the crew. Then they uncoupled the first two vans and the engine and took them further down the line to unload the contents. Stolen were more than 100 bags of registered mail believed to include a shipment of diamonds. (AP Photo/Necho)
This is the bridge across the main railway line near Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, UK, on August 8, 1963, the scene of the Great Train Robbery where a gang of armed bandits got away with a haul estimated at £1,000,000 ($2,800,000). The raiders fixed the signals at red without alerting the local signal box, then over powered the crewmen when the train halted. (AP Photo)
The following text is from The Associated Press article, "Masked Bandits Pull a $2.8 Million Train Robbery in England; Rated Biggest Haul", printed in the Hope (Ark.) Star, Thursday, August 8, 1963.
Cheddington, England (AP) - A band of 20 to 30 masked bandits decoyed the Glasgow-London mail train to a halt with a false signal today, blackjacked the engineer and escaped with loot that the post office said may exceed a million pounds ($2.8 million).
Executed in 15 minutes, this was the biggest and boldest train robbery in British history. Of comparable robberies in the United States, the biggest cash haul was $1,551,277 taken last Aug. 14 from a mail truck outside Plymouth, Mass.
Postmaster General Reginal Bevins addresses a crowded press conference at the G.P.O headquarters building in London on August 9, 1963, on yesterday's Great Train Robbery. At left is Deputy Director General of the G.P.O W.A Wolverson. (AP Photo/Eddie Worth)
A policeman looks at the half-dug pit outside the farmhouse at Leatherslade Farm, Oakley, Buckinghamshire, UK, August 14, 1963, as police continued their intensive search of the buildings and grounds for clues of last Thursday's Great Train Robbery. The farm had been used as a hideout by the gang which robbed the Glasgow-London travelling Post Office train of £2,500,000. (AP Photo/Leslie Priest)
A police photographer leaves the farmhouse at Leatherslade Farm, Oakley, Buckinghamshire, UK, August 14, 1963, as police continued their intensive search for clues of last Thursday's Great Train Robbery. The farm was discovered yesterday to have been used as a hideout by the gang which robbed the Glasgow-London travelling Post Office train of £2,500,000. (AP Photo/Leslie Priest)
"The loss is likely to be very heavy and may well run into seven figures," the British Post Office said. "This is the first attack on a traveling post office in the 125 years of their history."
Postmaster General Reginald Bevins promptly ordered a £10,000 ($28,000) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bandits.
The bandits seized about 120 bags of registered mail containing a large quantity of used but still valid currency which was being returned to London for reprocessing. There were reports the haul also included a consignment of diamonds for Hatton Market, London's gem trading center.
Two female suspects in the Great Train Robbery cover their heads with a coat as they are escorted to court in Linslade, UK, on August 16, 1963. The women, said to be sisters, are charged with receiving £1,190 ($3,332) in stolen banknotes. (AP Photo)
A large holdall rests on the rear seat of a police car after a banknote hoard found in a Surrey wood, at Redlands, had been brought to the police station at Dorking, Surrey, UK, August 16, 1963. The money, in two holdalls, a suitcase and a briefcase, totalled more than £100,000, the police said, and is believed to have been dumped by members of the Great Train Robbery gang. A couple alerted the police after stumbling on the cash during a walk. (AP Photo/Robert Dear)
Three hooded men are escorted into a special court in Linslade, Buckinghamshire, UK, August 16, 1963, shortly before three men and two women were charged in connection with the mail train robbery. They were ordered to be held until August 24 while the nationwide hunt for the cash and confederates continues. Linslade is about four miles from Cheddington where a gang of bandits ambushed the night mail train from Glasgow to London on August 8, 1963, and got away with £2.5 million in cash. The amount recovered so far is £141,000. (AP Photo)
The bandits struck shortly after 3am at a rural crossing 40 miles northwest of London. They covered the green signal at the crossing with a glove and put batteries behind the red signal to light it. They also cut railway telephone wires.
Garbed in coveralls and various types of masks, the band boarded the train with clubs and iron bars as weapons when engineer Jack Mills, 58, halted his diesel engine. Mills was clubbed down.
Some smashed windows of the first two mail coaches and climbed aboard. They bound the four mail sorters. They handcuffed the assistant engineer, David Whitby, to Mills, uncoupled the two coaches from the remaining 10 cars of the train and forced the engineer to move the engine and two cars a mile farther south.
Whitby said later he was told by one of the bandits: "If you shout, I will kill you." The band unloaded the mail bags on a bridge over a narrow country road and dropped them to cars waiting on the road 15 feet below. Then they sped away. "It was obviously a very professional job," said detective Supt. Malcolm Fewtrell of Buckinghamshire. "They seemed to know their railway signaling."
The mail train carried no passengers. About 50 postal workers were aboard.
Preceded by a Jaguar police car, the lorry and two field cars which police believe were used in the £2,500,000 Great Train Robbery on August 8, are driven from the gang's former hideout at Leatherslade Farm, Oakley, Buckinghamshire, UK, on August 19, 1963. Police drove the three vehicles to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, police station, after carrying out an intensive search of the farm. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
Detectives examine a pram frame as they dismantle the caravan which was used as a temporary hideout by members of the £2,500,000 Great Train Robbery gang, as they search for more clues at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK, August 22, 1963. The caravan was moved from a site at Tadworth, Surrey, yesterday for further examination at Aylesbury. Police found a further £30,000 of the stolen money hidden behind panelling. The pram was found in the caravan. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
A black Austin van parked in a field gateway in Westfield Lane, Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, UK, about three miles from Leatherslade Farm, Oakley, former hideout of the £2,500,000 Great Train Robbery gang, pictured before it was removed by police investigating the robbery, August 20, 1963. The van has been parked in the same place since the night after the robbery, which took place at Cheddington, Bucks, on August 8, 1963. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
The police issued pictures of kitchenware and camping equipment found in the train robbers hideaway at Leatherslade Farm, near Aylesbury, UK, on August 20, 1963. The gang left these things when they fled in panic with their haul. The goods found were: six candles, a frying pan, a tea strainer, 15 ex-Army tin cups, 16 spoons, 15 tin plates, 16 knives and forks, two tin openers, two balls of string, a big soup pot, a tea urn, mattresses, blankets, a plastic mackintosh and some curtains. There was food too. Jars of instant coffee, eggs, tins, sugar. There was drink- a number of seven pint cans of beer. And there were sleeping bags. Much of the material, it is thought, may have been sold wholesale. Some of it may have come from Government surplus stores. (AP Photo)
Newsmen prowl around Leatherslade Farm in Buckinghamshire, UK, August 26, 1963, shortly after police moved out. The farm was used by the Great Train Robbery gang as a hideout. Owner Bernard Rixon announced on August 19 that the farm would be thrown open to sightseers as soon as the police left. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
A hooded woman is led past a battery of press photographers as she enters a special court at Linslade, Buckinghamshire, UK, August 24, 1963, shortly before four men and three women appeared on charges in connection with the £2,500,000 Great Train Robbery. All seven were remanded in custody until Sept. 2. (AP Photo)
Police escort a man with a blanket over his head from the court at Linslade, Buckinghamshire, UK, Sept. 10, 1963, after ten people had appeared on charges arising from the Great Train Robbery of August 8. Two of the three women and one of the men were granted bail until Sept. 20 when the hearing will take place at Aylesbury. The others were remanded in custody until Sept. 17. (AP Photo/Brian Calvert)
A box of papers and documents is carried into court at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK, on Sept. 26, 1963, shortly before the start of the Great Train Robbery case. Thirteen people are facing charges arising from the £2,500,000 robbery which was carried out on August 8. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
A hooded figure is helped down from a police van in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK, Sept. 26, 1963, shortly before the start of the Great Train Robbery case. Thirteen people are facing charges arising from the £2,500,000 robbery which was carried out on August 8. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
Bernard Rixon and his wife Lily, owners of Leatherslade Farm, Oakley, Buckinghamshire, UK, the hideout used by the Great Train Robbery gang, pictured in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK, Sept. 26, 1963, after the first day of the case against ten men and three women accused in connection with the robbery. Mrs Rixon gave evidence for the prosecution. Ownership of the farm has reverted back to the Rixons since they did not receive the sum for which they sold it. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
Jack Mills, left, driver of the Glasgow-Euston travelling Post Office train, and his co-driver, David Whitby, arrive at Aylesbury courthouse in Buckinghamshire, UK, Oct. 4, 1963, to give evidence at the hearing on the Great Train Robbery. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
Arriving at Aylesbury court in Buckinghamshire, UK, Oct. 7, 1963, are, left to right; Sgt. Pritchard, Scotland Yard's Det. Supt. Gerald MacArthur and Det. Supt. Malcolm Fewtrell of the Buckinghamshire CID for the resumption of the hearing of evidence against 15 men and women on charges arising from the Great Train Robbery. (AP Photo/Victor Boynton)
Sacks of cash found in a London phone booth are examined by police officers in London, Dec. 11, 1963. An anonymous phone tip led Scotland Yard to the cash, which is part of the stolen money in the Great Train Robbery, Aug. 8. So far, 21 persons have been arrested in connection to the heist. (AP Photo)
Detective Inspector Donald Neesham, Detective Sergeant Slipper, and Sergeant Hyans, no left to right available, searching for clues on James Edward White's yacht at Dover, Kent, UK, April 23, 1966. Police believe they may have traced the boat which shipped more than £2 million of the Great Train Robbery haul to Ireland or France. James Edward White was remanded in custody, April 22, until next week on two charges arising out of the robbery. White was arrested, April 21, at a block of flats in Littlestone-on-Sea, Kent, after being sought by police for questioning in connection with the robbery in 1963. (AP Photo)
This was the scene at Heathrow Airport, London, on January 28, 1968, as a police car, left foreground, carries Charles Wilson, 37, back to prison to finish his 30 year sentence in connection with the Great Train Robbery in 1963. Police ringed the aircraft which brought him from Canada, following his arrest last Thursday in the Quebec town of Rigaud, where he had lived with his wife, Patricia, for two years as Mr and Mrs Allaway. (AP Photo)
Head covered in an overcoat, Great Train Robber Charles Wilson, 37, is guided by detectives down the steps of the aircraft which brought him from Canada to Heathrow Airport, London, January 28, 1968, to finish his 30 year jail sentence. Wilson, who escaped from Winson Green prison, Birmingham, UK, after serving only four months of his sentence, was arrested last Thursday in the Quebec town of Rigaud, where he had lived with his wife, Patricia, for two years as Mr and Mrs Allaway. (AP Photo)
Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Butler, who led the capture of robber Charles Wilson, is seen leaving the aircraft which carried them from Canada, at Heathrow Airport, London, January 28, 1968. Following a tip-off, Superintendent Butler arrested Wilson last Thursday in the Quebec town of Rigaud, where he lived with his wife, Patricia, for two years as Mr and Mrs Allaway. Wilson has escaped from Winson Green prison, Birmingham, UK, after serving only four months of his 30 year sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963. (AP Photo)
Police and police dogs are on guard around the exterior of Aylesbury Police station, Buckinghamshire, UK, Nov. 6, 1968, where Bruce Reynolds was charged today, with others in the Great Train Robbery of a Royal Mail train on August 8, 1963. (AP Photo/Frank Leonard Tewkesbury)
Bruce Reynolds, 37, wearing glasses, is pictured after his five minute court appearance at Linslade, Bedfordshire, UK, Nov. 9, 1968, when he was remanded in custody until Monday, Nov. 18, facing two charges connected with the Great Train Robbery at Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, in August 1963. (AP Photo/Eddie Worth)
This is an August 1997 photo of convicted Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs. Scotland Yard said they received an e-mail from Biggs sent from Brazil saying he is ready to return to Britain from Brazil and face arrest. Biggs was originally sentenced to 30 years in jail for his part in the famous train robbery which occurred in 1963. Biggs escaped from prison in 1965 and has been on the run ever since. Biggs, 71, was part of a gang which stole £2.6m, from a mail train in the early hours of Aug. 8, 1963. (AP Photo/Renzo Gostoli)
This is a May 7, 2001 file photo of convicted train robber Ronnie Biggs leaving Chiswick Police station on his way to court in West London. Biggs arrived back in Britain from Brazil early Monday where he has been since his escape from prison and his successful avoidance of extradition. Biggs came back to Britain aided by a British tabloid newspaper. Ronnie Biggs was part of a gang that stole sacks containing 2.6 million pounds from a Glasgow to London mail train in August 1963. The haul from what was dubbed the Great Train Robbery would be worth more than 40 million pounds ($60 million) today. Biggs escaped from prison in 1965 by scaling a 30-foot wall with three other inmates. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
Text Excerpts
The Associated Press article, "Masked Bandits Pull a $2.8 Million Train Robbery in England; Rated Biggest Haul", printed in The Hope (Ark.) Star, Thursday, August 8, 1963.
Text and photo curation by Kathryn Bubien