Great Train Robbery 1963: How the Gang Stopped the Train

The Great Train Robbery happened in the early hours of 8 August 1963, when a gang tampered with a signal and stopped the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train in Buckinghamshire, then took about £2.6 million. Most of the gang were later jailed for terms of up to 30 years, but the bulk of the money was never recovered.

If you like heist stories, the Brink's-Mat gold robbery is a later British case, and you can also play it as a case file. Here is what happened, how the gang were found, and what is still uncertain.

What happened on the night of 8 August 1963?

The target was a Royal Mail train on the West Coast Main Line, running from Glasgow to London. At Sears Crossing, near Ledburn in Buckinghamshire, the gang tampered with a signal: the green light was covered with a glove and a battery powered the red. Accounts differ on the exact spot, with some placing the signal near Cheddington.

The driver, Jack Mills, of Crewe, saw the danger signal and stopped. His second man, David Whitby, went to a railway telephone and found the cables had been cut. Mills was struck with a cosh and left semi-conscious.

The gang could not drive the locomotive themselves, so they forced the injured Mills to move the train about half a mile to Bridego Bridge.

How did the gang take the money?

At the bridge the gang attacked the High Value Packet carriage, which carried the valuable mail. Frank Dewhurst and Thomas Kett were hit with coshes, and Mills and Whitby were handcuffed together.

Inside, five postal officers heard steam and assumed a coupling had broken. The communication cord and their shouting did nothing. They understood what was happening only when a window was smashed and a voice announced a raid. The attackers then ordered the staff to stay in the coach for half an hour. Two left sooner and raised the alarm.

The robbers passed sacks along a human chain into a truck, a job said to have taken roughly 15 to 20 minutes. Counts and values vary by source, so the main figures are set out below.

Who was behind the robbery?

Bruce Reynolds is named as the leader of a gang of 15. Other men named include Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson and Ronnie Biggs.

The gang had inside information from a source known as the Ulsterman, whose real identity has never been established. The Post Office suspected an inside job: three top-security trains that should have been running were out of action, and the Investigation Branch checked every one of the 70-plus staff on the train.

How were the gang caught?

The gang hid at Leatherslade Farm, about 27 miles (43 km) from the scene, and split the money into shares of around £150,000 each. A farm worker, John Maris, gave police a tip. Officers found the farm with empty mail bags, a pit and wrapping marked National Provincial Bank.

Fingerprints on a Monopoly board are cited as the key link to most of the arrests. A reward of £260,000 was offered in total, including £10,000 from the Post Office.

Reynolds was arrested in Torquay on 9 November 1968, living under an alias. Some men stayed free for years, and three or four are believed never to have been caught. For comic writers planning a heist scene, our guide to storyboarding a heist shows how to pace one.

What sentences did the gang receive?

The trial took place in 1964. Accounts differ on the totals. One says eleven men were sentenced, with terms of up to 30 years, and that the ringleaders received 30. Another gives 307 years across the gang. These figures do not reconcile, so no single definitive count is given here.

Bill Boal and Lennie Field were later exonerated. One retelling says John Daly was acquitted, a claim found in one source only.

What happened to Ronnie Biggs, and where is the money?

Biggs was caught less than a month after the raid. He reportedly told police: "I am admitting nothing to you people." He was sentenced to 30 years, then escaped from Wandsworth prison in 1965. He later settled in Brazil and was re-arrested in 2001 after returning to the UK. Another famous breakout from the same era is told in our Alcatraz article.

The bulk of the stolen money has never been recovered.

The driver paid a lasting price. Mills retired in 1967 and died in 1970 of an unrelated illness, but he is reported never to have overcome the trauma of the attack.