The Great Train Robbery — 8th August 1963 part 2

He covered the green light with a glove

Powered the red light using a battery

Cut the telephone line nearby

Then they hid and waited.

When the train arrived, Jack Mills was shocked to see a red signal.

But he had no choice.

He stopped the train.

The Attack

The assistant driver stepped out to use the trackside telephone…

Only to discover the line was dead.

Before he could return, the robbers emerged from the bushes and overpowered him.

Several men climbed onto the engine.

When Jack Mills resisted, one robber struck him on the head with an iron rod.

He collapsed unconscious in the driver’s seat.

Stealing the Train Itself

While chaos unfolded in the engine, other gang members uncoupled the first two carriages from the rest of the train.

Their plan was to move the engine and HVP carriage to a bridge about 1 km away:

Bridego Bridge

A truck was waiting underneath.

They even brought a retired train driver to operate the engine…

But he panicked, unfamiliar with the controls.

So they forced Jack Mills—injured and barely conscious—to drive the train to the bridge.

The Loot

At Bridego Bridge, the robbers broke into the HVP carriage.

They assaulted five staff members, tied them face-down, and began loading the money.

Inside were:

128 bags of cash

Notes of £1, £5, and 10 shillings

Total weight: nearly 2.5 tons

They had only 15 minutes.

Forming a human chain, they loaded:

120 out of 128 bags into the truck

Eight were left behind due to time shortage.

The robbery was a complete success.

The Mistake That Caught Them

Before leaving, one robber warned the staff:

“Don’t try to get up for 30 minutes, or you’ll be killed.”

That statement gave police a clear idea of their escape radius.

The gang fled with the money in an Austin Loadstar truck, along with two Land Rovers using the same fake license plate:

BMG 757

After 45 minutes, they reached their hideout—43 km away near Oakley village.

There, they celebrated…

Even playing Monopoly using real stolen money.

But that celebration became their downfall.

Police Breakthrough

Police raided the hideout farm house and found:

Empty mail bags

Stolen parcels

The repainted truck

And most importantly…

Fingerprints on the Monopoly board

Since many robbers already had criminal records, Scotland Yard matched the prints quickly.

Within days:

14 out of 16 men were arrested

Only two escaped:

The replacement train driver

The unknown Royal Mail insider

Their identities remain a mystery.

The Aftermath

The court declared it the robbery of the century.

Most gang members were sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Bridego Bridge became famously known as:

“Train Robbers’ Bridge”

Driver Jack Mills never returned to work.

He suffered permanently from the injury and passed away seven years later due to trauma.