22 March 2023 The Great Train Robbery

Presenter:  Ian Boskett

The ‘Big Freeze’, the ‘Profumo Affair’, the assassination of a U.S. President  and the ‘Great Train Robbery’  ensured that 1963 was no ordinary year. Ian Boskett brought the last-mentioned event to life with a well-researched presentation that was enthusiastically delivered but resisted the temptation to glamorise the violent criminals involved in the robbery.  He paid due respect to Jack Mills, the driver of D326 (later renumbered 40 126) and his second man David Whitby and how their memories have been perpetuated in locomotive namings, road names and plaques. 

The highlight of Ian’s presentation was a demonstration using a replica colour light signal of how the gang changed the aspects from green to red.  A glove, an ‘EverReady’ battery and a pair of pinch cables were all that was needed! 

Following an earlier report, three Royal Mail sorting coaches had been modified to be High Value Package vehicles. The fourth spare coach without the enhanced security was in the 12-coach consist that night; I think Ian successfully convinced the audience that this was more than a coincidence.

Ian has paid several visits to the area to take photographs and observed the disapproving attitude of local people to ‘Robbery tourists’.  For a short while the bridge where the train was relieved of the money was officially called Train Robbers Bridge but because of the local antipathy this turned out to be a short lived renaming.

The gang stole nearly £3 million (worth well over £40 million today) and the judge handed out harsh custodial sentences totalling over 300 years for this assault on the Royal Mail. Only one of the gang is still alive but their criminal exploits live on as part of national folklore. The enthusiastic audience reception for Ian at the end of the talk was well deserved.