![]() This recommendation was implemented in 1961, but HVP carriages without alarms were retained in reserve. In 1960, the Post Office Investigation Branch (IB) recommended the fitting of alarms to all TPOs with HVP carriages. 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. The second carriage behind the engine was known as the HVP (high-value packages) coach, which carried large amounts of money and registered mail for sorting. One of the carriages involved in the robbery is preserved at the Nene Valley Railway. This process of exchange allowed mail to be distributed locally without delaying the train with unnecessary stops. Sorted mail on the train could be dropped off at the same time. 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. The train consisted of 12 carriages and carried 72 Post Office staff who sorted mail during the journey. The train was hauled by English Electric Type 4 (later Class 40) diesel-electric locomotive D326 (later 40 126). It was scheduled to arrive at Euston at 04:00 the following morning. Royal Mail train Īt 18:50 on Wednesday 7 August 1963, the travelling post office (TPO) "Up Special" train set off from Glasgow Central station en route to Euston Station in London. ![]() The final gang who took part in the raid comprised a total of 16 men. Other associates (including Ronnie Biggs, a man Reynolds had previously met in jail) were added as the organisation evolved. 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. This group included Tommy Wisbey, Bob Welch, and Jim Hussey, who were already 'accomplished train robbers'. 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. The raid was devised over a period of months by a core team: Goody and Edwards along with Bruce Reynolds, and Charlie Wilson, with Reynolds assuming the role of "mastermind". 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 two of the criminals who would carry out the raid-Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards-by a London solicitor's clerk, Brian Field. ( August 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification. The ringleaders were sentenced to thirty years in jail. After the police found this hideout, incriminating evidence led to the eventual arrest and conviction of most of the gang. After the robbery, the gang hid at Leatherslade Farm. He never overcame the trauma from the robbery. He retired in 1967 and died in 1970 due to an unrelated illness. ![]() After his partial recovery, he returned to work doing light duties. Though the gang did not use any firearms, Jack Mills, the train driver, was beaten over the head with a metal bar. The bulk of the stolen money was never recovered. With careful planning based on inside information from an individual known as "The Ulsterman", named (erroneously) as Patrick McKenna in 2014, the robbers escaped with over £2.6 million (equivalent to £58 million today). A 16th man, an unnamed retired train driver, was also present. Other gang members included Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, Roy James, John Daly, Jimmy White, Ronnie Biggs, Tommy Wisbey, Jim Hussey, Bob Welch and Roger Cordrey, as well as three men known only as numbers "1", "2" and "3", two of whom later turned out to be Harry Smith and Danny Pembroke. Īfter tampering with the lineside signals to bring the train to a halt, a gang of 15, led by Bruce Reynolds, attacked the train. 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 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. 11 men sentenced (Bill Boal and Lennie Field later exonerated) to terms up to 30 years
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