Mail bag signed by 10 robbers who stole more than £2million in Great Train Robbery up for auction

Mail bag signed by 10 robbers who stole more than £2million in Great Train Robbery up for auction The infamous Great Train Robbery saw gang members steal 120 sacks that contained the equivalent of nearly £50million today, and 63 years later a host of items related to it are up for sale A mail bag signed by 10 robbers who stole more than £2million in The Great Train Robbery is going up for auction. The armed criminals attacked a train driver and made a human chain to steal 120 mail sacks that contained the equivalent of nearly £50m today in one of Britain's most famous heists. 63 years later, a collection of items, including a mail bag signed by 10 of the gang - who were later arrested and jailed - is going up for auction. The items were collected by the vendor's father, an avid collector of anything related to gang-land London and crime. A spokesperson from Lucas Field Media, representing Ewbank’s Auctions told The Mirror: "His father knew a few characters from that world himself." The cream drawstring mail bag, similar to those made by the gang-members while they served time in prison following the hijacking, comes with a colour photograph depicting the train: the Royal Mail Travelling Post Office, which was travelling from Glasgow to London Euston when it was stopped at a bridge in Ledburn, Bucks. The gang used a glove to cover a green signal light and activated the signal's red light using a six volt battery, which caused the train driver to stop. They also cut the lineside phone's cables before attacking one of the two drivers and boarding the train. The gang then formed a human chain to offload sacks of cash into waiting lorries during the August 1963 heist. The ten signatures are of mastermind Bruce Reynolds, Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, Gordon Goody, Roger Cordrey, Tommy Wisbey, Bob Welch, James ‘Jimmy’ Hussey, and getaway driver Roy ‘The Weasel’ James. The gang brutalised train driver Jack Mills, striking him over the head during the hijacking. While he returned to work, he lived with chronic pain and headaches for years afterward. Second victim David Whitby, who was 25 at the time, was pulled from the train and tightly bound at the bottom of an embankment. He did not recover from the psychological impact of the robbery and died of a heart attack just a decade later aged just 34. All ten men were captured and later imprisoned. Ronnie Biggs later became a celebrity after escaping from Wandsworth in 1968 and living as a fugitive in Australia and Brazil for 36 years. Auctioneers at Ewbank’s near Guildford, Surrey estimate that the bag will sell for £70 to £100. A £500 Monopoly banknote is also on offer as it formed part of a set that was a vital clue in cracking the case, with fingerprints on the game board and ketchup bottle found at the gang's hideout at an old farmhouse in Oakley, Bucks, leading officers to the criminals. Accompanying the note is a pair of signed black and white press photographs, from 1974, depicting Ronnie Biggs with his Brazilian girlfriend Raimunda Nascimenta de Castro, and a signed sepia press photo of Bruce Reynolds. Another photo up for auction includes a 2000 photo of Reynolds in his later years playing a game of Monopoly, signed in silver felt tip. The second lot is estimated to sell for £100 to £150. The lots will be sold by Ewbank’s Auctions on Friday, August 28.