The Great Train Robbery — 8th August 1963 Part 1

On the dark night of 8th August 1963, a Royal Mail train was traveling from Glasgow to London.

Inside one of its carriages were bags filled with cash—worth nearly 67 million pounds today, or around ₹800 crore.

The train driver, Jack Mills, was speeding through the darkness when suddenly, at a crossing, a red signal light flashed.

For the driver, this was extremely unusual, because at that time and place, the signal being red made no sense.

Still, Jack Mills immediately applied the brakes and stopped the train on the deserted track.

For a few moments, silence took over…

But hidden behind that silence was a master plan—one that would become one of the biggest robberies of the century:

The Great Train Robbery

Welcome back to My story

Viewers, this may sound like a movie plot…

But in real life, criminals carried out a suspense-filled operation and looted millions of pounds from Britain’s government train—without firing a single bullet.

The Plan Begins

Everything started months earlier, when a group of well-known London criminals sat down to plan a new major crime.

The mastermind was Bruce Reynolds.

He had received secret information about the Royal Mail system from a senior security officer—whose identity remains unknown to this day.

The information was about a special carriage on the Glasgow-to-London train known as:

HVP — High Value Packages

On a particular day, this carriage would be carrying an unusually large amount of money.

And that was the carriage they planned to rob.

Building the Team

Although Bruce Reynolds and his gang were experienced criminals, they had never robbed a train before.

So they brought in another London gang with train robbery experience:

The South Coast Raiders

Slowly, the team grew, and more than 15 men became part of the plan.

Their goal was clear:

Rob the train without firing a single shot.

But this was no ordinary robbery.

It required months of planning.

The Train’s Journey

On 7th August 1963 at 6:50 PM, the train departed from Glasgow Central Station.

It was scheduled to arrive at London’s Euston Station at 4:00 AM the next morning.

The train had:

12 total carriages

72 Post Office staff onboard

A system designed to drop mail at stations without stopping

The train was mainly used for parcels and postal deliveries across different cities.

A Major Security Weakness

The carriage meant for the robbery was still not attached when the train departed.

It was safely parked at Nene Valley Station.

This was the HVP carriage.

Earlier, in 1960, the Post Office Investigation Branch had ordered security alarm systems to be installed in these carriages.

By 1961, three HVP carriages had alarms installed.

Older carriages without alarms were kept in reserve.

But on the robbery day…

The alarm-equipped carriages were out of service.

So a reserve carriage, M3024M, was used instead—with no security system at all.

This was a huge insider tip.

Even More Money Than Usual

Normally, an HVP carriage carried about 300,000 pounds.

But because the previous week was a bank holiday weekend…

That day, it carried nearly:

3 million pounds in cash

Twelve times more than usual.

This wasn’t coincidence.

The criminals had planned everything perfectly.

The Signal Trap

At around 3:00 AM on 8th August, one gang member tampered with the signal at Sears Crossing.