The Great Train Robbery was the armed robbery of £2.6 million, mostly in used bank notes (equivalent to approximately £53 million today) from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963, at Bridego Railway Bridge, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.
The gang of 15 robbers stopped the train by turning off a green track signal and, with batteries, turning on a red signal. The train’s fireman went to investigate and was captured, unharmed; the engineer was severely injured by a blow on the head. Τhe gang did not use any firearms during the robbery.
After the robbery, the gang hid at Leatherslade Farm. The robbers took about 120 mail bags by Land Rovers to their farm hideaway, where they divided the loot. The gang had used the money in a game of Monopoly while holed up at a farm house!
Subsequently they burnt down the farmhouse but police were able to find everyone’s fingerprints. After the police found this hideout, incriminating evidence led to the eventual arrest and conviction of most of the gang. It is estimated that less than £400,000 was eventually recovered, since the bank notes were untraceable. The arrested robbers were sentenced up to 30 years in jail.