Jim Morris - The Great Train Robbery, the Second Gang. The South Coast Raiders

JIM MORRIS

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2014 Jim Morris

Jim Morris has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

First published in 2014

ISBN: 978-1-78301-419-4

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It was in January of 1963 that Brian Field made a phone call to Gordon Goody; a call that was to start the chain of events that saw the two of them and most of Gordons firm, together with the majority of the South Coast Raiders, spend a lot of years in prison. The call was to tell Gordon that huge amounts of money were carried routinely on the up special mail train, which travelled from Glasgow to Euston each night.

Gordon discussed it with his firm and Buster Edwards made contact with his friend Tommy Wisbey, because he knew Tommy worked with a railway expert. Busters friendship with Tommy was long and well established, though they hadnt worked together for many years.

Buster had heard of a series of raids on trains in the south of England, of which a few were characterised by the train stopping at a danger (red) signal on the track. He didnt have too many details, but enough to know one of the firm was able to fix signals to show danger (red).

The main attraction for Buster and particularly the firms chief planner, Bruce Reynolds, was a small, insignificant man one could pass in the street without a second glance: Roger John Cordrey. They were keen to know if he could help or advise them on how to stop a train.

Buster was a garrulous man who had a lot of friends and even more acquaintances and whether they liked it or not, in the underworld of London in the post-war crime boom, a lot of rumours would fly around.

When the idea of robbing a train was again floated to Bruce and the firm, the initial response was one of scepticism because theyd tried trains before with limited success. But the two things that made them take note were the possible prize, which ran into millions, and the source of the initial information they had, Brian Field, who was known to be reliable. So with Charlie Wilson and Gordon Goody, together with Roy James and others, they started to look at the feasibility.

More enquiries were made, which included meetings with the person who was to become their source of specific information. In many books this character is referred to as the Ulsterman and hed taken the original idea to Brian Field.

An alternative job was a bullion consignment coming up from Southampton, but the train and the Ulsterman seemed to gain the most support.

However, when the firm thought about the project in any depth they always came back to the same problem stopping the train. They learned that the target, a travelling post office, didnt carry passengers, so the communication cord was not a possibility, but using that had badly backfired in the past anyway.

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It has been suggested that Bruces firm attacked the Irish mail train in February 1963, but this seems unlikely. The whole matter is discussed in Piers Paul Reads The Train Robbers, though he says the date was early January. But his description of what happened and who seemed to be involved taken with contemporary reports, does tally quite well. So it looks more likely to be the firm Buster was in contact with through Tommy Wisbey, a firm known as the South Coast Raiders.

The Irish mail train robbery was quite simple: the train staff discovered some men riffling through the registered mail. The guard had gone to attend to duties elsewhere on the train, and the firm didnt expect anyone to come into the guards carriage. But the ticket collector had been approached by a soldier wanting to alight at Crewe, where the train didnt stop, but there was the possibility of a request stop. When the ticket collector went into the guards compartment to sort this out, the firm were busy. A punch-up ensued, which the guard discovered when he returned. Some dining car staff had also joined in, or were dragged in. As it turned out, the train stopped at a station instead of in a secluded place and the firm made good their escape.

The story that got back to Bruce, Buster et al. via the underworld grapevine was slightly different. If it was the South Coast Raiders then they were noted for their forays on the southern lines, so that evening their reputation was enhanced even if their pockets werent.

One problem for Roger was that the signalling system on the lines to the Midlands and North was slightly different to that for the southern areas, but he was soon able to figure out a method. As Ill discuss later it was often Roger who was at the line side when a raid was made, and it was he who stopped the train, often in an area away from a station which was how the other members of the firm alighted the train and made their getaway.

How and ever it might help for this piece to consider the disaster that Bruce, Buster and their firm encountered in trying to rob trains, and they soon decided it was hopeless. However, if the South Coast Raiders were able to do it, then there must be, they thought, something amiss with their methods.

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Word had come to Bruce and his firm that wages for railway workers in Swindon were carried by train from Paddington down to Wiltshire. The prize might be in the region of 10,000, so it was well worth looking into.

A trip to Paddington showed them that, sure enough, the cash boxes did go on a Cheltenham-bound train that called at Swindon. So they drew up a plan to find a convenient spot along the track where, if the train stopped, they could alight with the cash boxes and rendezvous with a van and driver to take the boxes, and also a car and driver to take them back to London.

They knew the information was sound and they found what they thought was the perfect spot adjacent to Hayes and Harlington station. They staged a dress rehearsal for the raid, which seemed to go well. Buster and another member of the firm travelled out from the capital, and when they were level with the signal box at Hayes and Harlington station they pulled the communication cord and the train stopped in exactly the right place.

All was set for a 10,000 prize in railwaymens wages, which was usually taken down to Swindon on Thursday mornings. Their intelligence proved accurate, as four bullion boxes were loaded onto the train at 9.05 am on Thursday 8 November 1962, and the train started out from Paddington. The passengers on board included Bruce, Buster, Charlie, Gordon (complete with crowbar), Bill Jennings and two other accomplices. Another firm member was in a disused factory with a van all ready to load up the money, and Roy James was probably in a car ready to transport the men.

Buster was the signal man for Bill, who was locked in a lavatory, ready to pull the communication cord. One at a time the partners in crime moved from their seats to the back of the train. The timings were perfect. The guard was overpowered with a glimpse of the crowbar and a hiss from Gordon, and Charlie, with bolt-cutters, was simultaneously at the chains that held the bullion boxes safely in place.