How to successfully rob a train (and get caught) - Great Train Robbery 1963

so you want to know about one of the most infamous robberies in british railway history take a seat and let me tell you all about what went down on the 7th of august 1963. this is the story of the great train robbery [Music] i think it's time to blow this thing get everybody in the stuff together okay three two one let's jam the plan was devised by four men ronald edwards charles wilson douglas goody and the mastermind bruce reynolds in preparation some members of local gangs the south west gang and the south coast raiders were hired to help pull off the job with some working for a few months of signalmen and shunters for british railways in order to gain trust and insider knowledge planners muscle getaway drivers the whole thing was foolproof they even brought in a retired engine driver to help nick the train so what was it they were after trains are very conspicuous things so stealing one and trying to sell it is completely out of the question no they were after something much more valuable than one of british rail's new diesels they were after the post train the royal mail still frequently used the railway to transport posts and other valuables such as money needing to be deposited into banks the post train carriages weren't fitted with alarms or inside locks because the three that were had been taken out of service meaning this one would be easy pickings on top of that the previous weekend had been a bank holiday for those outside of the uk a bank holiday is essentially a nationwide day off so a bank holiday weekend is essentially a three-day weekend during those weekends people travel to the beach for the day or visit other tourist attractions with family long story short they go out and spend money so what would normally be a post train carrying three hundred thousand pounds was now a post train carrying roughly 2.5 million the team knew that the post train stopped for nothing so they couldn't wait for it at a station or for it to be shunted to let an express train pass by they had to stop it themselves the solution they found a remote spot on the line sears crossing in led burn why the signal to say danger and cut the wire of the line side telephone no matter how important the train you can't pass a signal set to danger it would have to stop and so it was set the train would stop they would commandeer it unload the goods and split before someone raised the alarm the plan was perfect [Music] just after 3 a.m on thursday the 8th of august the train stopped at sears crossing led burn as planned where several of the robbers waited the second man of the engine stepped out and tried to call a signalman on the line side phone as a stop was unexpected after finding the phone line cut the second man boarded the engine again only to be jumped by one of the gangsters the rest of the team climbed aboard the engine and post carriages while one of them beat the driver over the head with a clash the other male carriages didn't matter as much as the two front ones containing the money so they were uncoupled the rest of the team got on with restraining the staff in the post carriages while the team's engine driver was tasked with driving the train up to a bridge nearby where the money was to be unloaded unfortunately the driver they had brought with them had been retired for a few years and wasn't familiar with the passenger diesel locomotives controls as he had only ever driven smaller shunting engines the original driver that had been clubbed half conscious was resuscitated and made to drive the engine to the drop-off point half a mile down the line where the rest of the gang was waiting waiting at the bridge was an austin lodestar lorry and two land rovers with matching number plates the team formed the human chain and moved all but eight of the 128 sacks from the carriage in the span of 15 to 20 minutes they all jumped into the land rovers and split up with the loaded lorry going in its own direction after over 45 minutes of driving and listening to police broadcasts on a vhf radio they all met up at a run-down farm roughly 27 miles away from the crime scene there they unloaded the money and divided it into 16 full shares with several smaller shares for gang associates each share came to roughly 150 000 pounds each which today would be around 3 million as the money was being divided they listened to the police chatter to ensure they would be safe while in hiding having cut several phone lines prior to the robbery the bandits ensured communication for the police would be difficult the police had lost them but witnesses were pointing them in the right direction and so the plan to leave the farm on sunday soon changed to hurrying out by friday one of the crew brian field helped move the gang out of the farmhouse to various places where they wouldn't be found with the promise that himself and an accomplice would scrub the building cleaner fingerprints before burning it to the ground with everyone going their separate ways with the money they were all set for life once the search had died down the plan was pulled off without a hitch [Music] an investigation was launched immediately police searched the train for clues while the postmaster general put out a 10 000 pound reward for the first person to give them evidence that could lead to the culprits five days later the police received a tip-off from a local herdsmen saying they'd noticed a group of men at the farmhouse who had left two land rovers in a lorry at the site police investigated immediately and arrived at the farmhouse which had not been burned to the ground as it turned out the guy tasked with torching the players had crossed the team and fled with his share and even though the robbers had been careful with their fingerprints there were a few spots they'd missed with the most damning bits of evidence being a ketchup bottle and a monopoly set which they had used while hiding having used the real stolen money in place of the in-game currency even the land rovers and the lorry were still there untouched after some digging an informant came forward someone who had heard the plans of the robbery but was jailed shortly before it was pulled off while they weren't 100 sure of the names they had provided it was enough to lead to the immediate arrest of nine gang members and several more weeks later eventually all but five members of the team were found and arrested with bruce reynolds the mastermind being the last to be arrested roughly five years later in 1968. among the five who got away were an informant to the gang three men who acted as muscle during the robbery and the still unidentified man known as pete who was supposed to be the replacement train driver despite their best efforts and despite capturing 13 of the robbers the police were never able to retrieve all of the stolen money with most of it being taken by those tasked with looking after the robbers shares while they serve time in prison less than 400 thousand pounds was ever found with the rest likely either spent or laundered with all that being said let's take a look at what happened to those who were caught [Music] [Music] brian field informant sentenced in 1964 was released in 1967 changed his name got married and worked for the children's book center died in a car crash in 1979. charlie wilson organizer and treasurer fled to canada caught in 1968 was released from prison in 1978 moved to spain shortly after and got involved in drug smuggling was shot dead in 1990 at his villa in spain roy james getaway driver arrested in 1963 released in 1975 tried to get back into motor racing eventually became a silversmith and produced trophies for formula one promoters before getting tied up in a scandal involving not paying excise duty on gold in 1983. was arrested again in 1993 after shooting and wounding his father-in-law and pistol-whipping and strangling his ex-wife had heart surgery in prison and was released in 1997 only to have a fatal heart attack almost immediately after release ronald edwards organizer fled to mexico arrested in 1966 released in 1975. upon release he worked selling flowers outside of waterloo station in 1988 his life story was dramatized in the film buster he died in 1994 having hanged himself [Music] douglas goody deputy and organizer arrested in 1963 released in 1975 moved in with his sick mother to look after her having studied spanish while behind bars he moved to spain where he purchased property and a bar living a quiet life died in 2016 after falling ill john daly gang associate arrested in 1963 acquitted in 1964. having found his share of the money gone he went straight moving to cornwall and taking up work as a street sweeper not telling anyone about his past in case he'd ever face re-trial died in 2013. roger cordery trainstopper and team electronics expert arrested in 1963 after trying to pay rent in advance in all 10 shilling notes released in 1971 with his share gone he worked as a florist at his sister's business died in 2011. robert welch muscle arrested in 1963 released in 1976 left disabled after a leg injury received in prison moved back in with his wife and son death date unknown [Music] thomas wisby and james hussey muscle arrested in 1963 released in 1975 and 1976 having returned to their respective families both got involved in cocaine smuggling with wisby being arrested during a drugs bust on his home and hersey was arrested shortly afterwards being seen accepting a package in a nearby park while he was staying with another woman to the shock of his wife and daughter both admitted they were part of a five hundred thousand pounds drug ring in court and retired shortly after their release whibsi died in 2016 hussey died in 2012. james white quartermaster lived on the run for three years before being arrested in 1966 was released in 1975. i was unable to find anything regarding his life after prison other than the fact he had a wife and son died sometime prior to 2000. ronald biggs in charge of finding the replacement train driver arrested in 1963 escaped prison in 1965 and fled to australia along with his wife and children after being found in australia he fled to rio de janeiro where he became a musician he returned to the uk in 2001 where he was immediately arrested being released again in 2009 two days before his 80th birthday he died in 2013 and finally bruce reynolds the mastermind himself after the caper he fled to mexico with his wife and son he then moved to canada and the south of france before moving back to the uk after running low on cash and hearing of another robbery in the works he was found and arrested in 1968 and released in 1978. he tried to find work in the textile trade but ended up laundering money for many south london gangs he was arrested again for three years in the 80s for dealing amphetamines he published an autobiography in 1995. he died in 2013. [Music] and thus ends the story of the not-so-great train robbers kind of abrupt really despite the plan being pulled off almost flawlessly the simple fact the farmhouse wasn't burned down led to most of the robbers getting caught nonetheless though it's still a fascinating story of trains robbers and rotten luck the investigation even stirred up some controversy at the time as the new conservative government was still having some problems with their public image with the robbery of a nationalised railway service being quite the headline of the time despite this the robbers involved and the event itself has become quite famous as a result of the story mostly because nothing like it had ever been done in the history of british railways the event has gone on to be dramatized referenced many times in pop culture such as james bond runescape and borderlands 2 and inspired many novels songs and other short stories so if there's anything to take away from this it's mostly that crime doesn't pay especially if you get caught will there ever be another great train robbery who knows let's just hope that if there is they'll at least have better luck next time

Channel: Train of Thought

Views: 69,667

Keywords: Train, Trains, Locomotives, Steam, Steam Train, Steam Trains, Fact, Fun, Fun Facts, Informal, Railway, Railroad, Educational, Crime, Robbery, Heist

Id: DSEGEcFtxHw

Length: 14min 21sec (861 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 15 2022