The Great Train Robbery
The Great Train Robbery of 1963
Back in 1963, a group of 16 people strategically hijacked a Royal Mail train travelling from Glasgow to London, effectively pulling off one ofhistory’s biggest,and most successful train heists in the world.
The crew ended up with over $70 million—and they did it completely unarmed. Not only did they get away with the cash, some of them have still never been caught.
The Idea
The idea was born after an unnamed senior security officer within Royal Mail had detailed knowledge of the amounts of money carried, and decided to mention it to someone else just to see what they thought.
The First Two Masterminds
Not long later, London’s solicitor’s clerk, Brian Field, introduced the security guard to two of the criminals who would carry out the raid—Gordon Goody and Buster Edwards.
Goody and Edwards then put together a team of professionals who would then spend the next several months carefully planning the heist.
The Original Team
The group’s core team included Goody and Edwards, as well as Bruce Reynolds and Charlie Wilson, with Reynolds then assuming the role of "mastermind".
This group of four were already very successful criminals in the underworld, but they had virtually no experience in stopping and robbing trains, so they enlisted some further help.
The South Coast Raiders
They contacted another London gang called The South Coast Raiders who were already accomplished train robbers. This group consisted of: Tommy Wisbey, Bob Welch, and Jim Hussey, as well as Roger Cordrey—a man who was a specialist in rigging the track-side signals to stop the train.
Michael Fresco, Getti Images