The Great Train Robbery

Q: In Which Year Did the Great Train Robbery Occur?

A: 1963

The Great Train Robbery took place in 1963, when a gang of 15 criminals stole £2.6 million from a Royal Mail train travelling from Glasgow to London. At the time, it was one of the biggest cash robberies in British history, and the equivalent value today would be tens of millions of pounds.

The gang stopped the train near Bridego Railway Bridge in Buckinghamshire by tampering with the railway signals before overpowering the crew and making off with 120 mail bags filled with cash. Although the robbery was meticulously planned, the criminals made a series of mistakes after the heist. Fingerprints left at their hideout, Leatherslade Farm, helped police identify many of those involved.

Several members of the gang, including the notorious Ronnie Biggs, became household names. Biggs famously escaped from prison in 1965 and spent decades on the run before voluntarily returning to the UK in 2001.

More than 60 years later, the Great Train Robbery remains one of the most famous crimes in British history, inspiring countless books, documentaries, and films.