The Great Train Robbery 1963
On March 13th 2024 32 members and guests attended Ian Boskett’s “The Great Train Robbery 1963: The Story”. Ian began by saying it was the 100th time he’s done this presentation, a notable achievement in itself. What followed was a detailed exposition of what happened before the robbery, during the robbery itself and its aftermath. It was not only a tale of criminality by the robbers and their associates but also of corruption by others before and after the robbery together with missed opportunities during the police investigation. Ian demonstrated how easy it was to stop the mail train using a replica track level repeater signal and tampering with it using a hand held battery and jump leads to change its aspect to red. Where appropriate Ian injected humour into his narrative prompting laughter but there was nothing funny about the vicious assaults on the victims ie several post office employees in the high value car which was detached from the rest of the train, and, most notably, on the footplate crew, Driver Jack Mills and Secondman David Whitby. Both were traumatised and subsequently died prematurely. At least their names live on by having roads in Crewe named after them and by a plaque on platform 12 at Crewe station. Hopefully another plaque in the cab of D326, the loco involved, has survived its cutting up in the 1980s. It was a tour de force by Ian much enjoyed by the audience.