GTR for RAIL 210713

A hold up waiting to happen It will soon be the 50th anniversary of the mail train robbery that took place on the WCML at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire on 8 August 1963. Using information, which has only been recently released by the authorities, Fraser Pithie provides an objective summary about a crime that for too long has been glamourised and mythologized rather than understood it only succeeded because largely on the night luck outweighed incompetence. Christmas 1962 saw the number one position in the pop music charts taken by a record with a postal theme, Elvis Presley’s “Return to Sender”. Also in that same chart was Rolf Harris with “Sun Arise”. at the time the song seemed a cruel joke as from Boxing Day until late March 1963 Britain saw very little sun as it became gripped in a fierce and relentless cold weather system. Industry was hit with some on short time, others brought to a standstill and whole communities were cut off for weeks and some for months. As the thaw came in March it provided a welcome, if overdue, relief for many. For those working on the railway they hardly had time to draw breath when a hammer blow was dealt to their working world. The infamous “Reshaping of British Railways” report by BR Chairman Dr Richard Beeching was published. If implemented, the Reports’ recommendations would see nearly a third of the railway network axed. It was a depressing time for many who had worked in an industry that was increasingly struggling to compete with road hauliers and the motorcar. “The robbery of mail It was 18 years since the end of the Second World War from the railways had and the austerity of the post war years was at last and become an increasing finally waning. It had been 1957 when the then Prime problem for several Minister, Harold Macmillan, told Britons “we have never years leading up to 1963” had it so good’ so some six years later more and more people were increasingly anxious to better themselves. This included those classed as the ‘criminal fraternity’. They held the same aspirations for betterment as the law abiding, the only difference being they were prepared to break the law to realise their dreams. Reynolds, Goody, Edwards, Wilson and James were the names of five such offenders who had been involved in what some would describe as daring raids, but in reality were violent wage snatches in 1962. These men would go onto become some of the most notorious criminals by virtue of the audacity of a crime they, along with eleven others, would commit in 1963. The robbery of mail from the railways had become an increasing problem for several years leading up to 1963. It was proving relatively easy for the criminals to commit, with the rewards for success putting it ahead of committing other crimes to obtain cash. In August 1960 a robbery of mail bags took place on the London to Brighton express netting the thieves £7,500 (about £146,200 today). A month later a further attack along the same line, this time by ‘rigging a lineside signal”, netted robbers £9000 (about £175,000 today). A third event in 1961, again along the same route involved robbers walking off from Brighton station with registered mail sack containing £15,000 (about £282,700 today). Putting this into context today, its three separate events in less than a year amounting to the robbery of £603,900. Little wonder then that Mr C G Osmond, the then Controller of the Post Office Investigation Branch stated in a memo to the Postal Services Department on 21 September 1960 “I am most anxious that urgent attention should be given to a further review of security precautions that are taken generally on each Travelling Post Office (TPO) and sorting carriage particularly when the train is brought to a halt (genuine or otherwise) outside a station”. Yet some two years later in January 1962 a raid on a mail train was only foiled through incompetence with detonators stopping a freight train at Marks Tey rather than the intended TPO. Consequently, Mr Osmond found himself still troubled by the issue and once again addressed the Postal Services Department “I think we should urgently ensure that TPO security is as good as it should be – particularly when the train is brought to a halt on some pretext.” It’s quite likely that had more attention been given to Mr Osmond’s advice and requests the most audacious robbery of mail in transit on the railway that took place some 7 months after this statement would have been foiled The crime was to rob the overnight TPO that ran between Glasgow and London Euston. It would be in the early hours of Thursday 8th August 1963 that this event would unfold. The TPO left Glasgow at 1850hrs on 7 August and was booked to stop at Carstairs, where four coaches from Aberdeen were added. At Carlisle a further three coaches were added taking the train up to its final consist of 12 coaches. The locomotive was English Electric Class 40 D326. It was one of 200 built by English Electric as part of the British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan. Constructed and introduced from 1958 onwards, these locomotives soon found themselves working on the East Coast Main Line. However, their time on the ECML was short lived after a comparison with BR “Britannia’ Class steam locomotives showed the Class 40 to have little advantage. Consequently, London Midland region that operated the West Coast Main Line, which had been starved on investment for many years, was pleased with the fact that the Class became available for their use. Under-investment in the WCML meant that overall line speeds were much lower than the ECML and this gave the Class 40 a much better chance to make a difference. A Class 40’s better acceleration than steam locomotives could be utilised but they would not be expected to hold high speeds for lengthy periods of time which was why the Eastern Region had rejected their continued use preferring to wait for the much more powerful Class 55 Deltics. The TPO’s unique identity that night (its headcode) was “I think we should 1M44. It called at Preston, Warrington, Crewe, Tamworth urgently ensure that and Rugby. These stops were made either for crew TPO security is as changes, for mail sacks to be taken onboard or both. Some good as it should be – particularly when the of these sacks were known as HVP (High Value Packages) train is brought to a sacks. These would always be loaded into the second coach halt on some pretext.” of the train, as that was the “HVP” coach. Typically, HVPs were largely registered post and that meant cash in transit. On the night in question, following a Bank Holiday, there was an unusually greater volume of HVPs. This was mainly money for the Bank Holiday that had been surplus to local banks’ requirements and there were also some old type five-pound notes that were being withdrawn from circulation. At Crewe there was a staff changeover. With over 21 years’ experience it would be 57-year-old Crewe driver, Jack Mills, along with 26-year-old David Whitby joining him as fireman that would take 1M44 on the final leg of the journey from Crewe to Euston. Their lives would never be the same after boarding D326 on that warm summer August night. Further, they had no idea of the value of the consignment that would be in their charge. At Rugby, the last sacks were loaded. On board, in the HVP coach, were 128 HVP sacks containing 636 packets of five pound, one pound and ten shilling notes. They weighed some two and a half tons and their value amounted to £2,595,997 and 10 shillings. Today, worth about £42,400,000. As Jack Mills opened the power controller of D326 and 1M44 ‘Things were already left Rugby and eastern Warwickshire, telephone wires had going wrong for the already been cut along the WCML south of Leighton robbers and their Buzzard. A gang of some 16 robbers lay in wait at two plans would need to locations for the arrival of 1M44. They had two Land Rovers increasingly rely on luck’ and an Austin flatbed lorry. For the robbery to have any chance of success 1M44 had to be stopped. The method was to feign the aspects of two colour light signals. The first would show a yellow ‘caution’ aspect with the subsequent signal showing a red, ‘stop’ aspect. The location of the feigned yellow aspect preceded the planned and feigned red aspect on a gantry at Sears Crossing approximately just over 2 miles north of Cheddington station in Buckinghamshire. Once brought to a halt the train would be split with the locomotive, first coach and HVP coach taken south by approximately half a mile from Sears Crossing to Bridego Bridge (Bridge 127). Here the gang would come together and offload their haul into a waiting lorry and two Land Rovers. The operation was timed to take no longer than 30 minutes. Unbeknown to them at the time, things were already going wrong for the robbers and their plans would need to increasingly rely on luck for the success they sought in the criminal enterprise they had embarked upon. The signal tampering was not carried out as instructed by one of the main gang members Roger Cordrey. A gang member, John Daly, had been instructed to carry this out at the signal that was to be feigned showing the cautionary aspect of yellow but rather than use a glove to cover the correct green aspect, as he’d been instructed by Cordrey, he unscrewed the bulb and threw it onto the track below.

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