Robert Ryan - Signal Red

board. 'Concentrates the mind,' he liked to say. Roy reminded himself to give Buster a wide berth.

'OK?' asked Roger, the tension making his voice tremulous. 'You coming up?'

Roy put the walkie-talkie over his shoulder and Roger did the same with his bag of tricks. They quickly ascended the ladder and stepped onto the walkway. Another train came by and the pair squeezed themselves into the metal. A horribly clammy cloud of steam and grit enveloped them briefly and was gone, as the loco puffed off towards London.

Roy spat some dirt from his mouth. 'No wonder they switched to diesels.'

It was cramped on the walkway but it afforded them a fine view up and down the track. Behind was Bridego Bridge, where the train would be unloaded. Ahead was Sears Crossing itself, actually the elevated track to nearby Rowden Farm, and beyond that the dwarf or distant signal which warned drivers to proceed with caution. Further on still was Major Bruce Reynolds, ready to leap in his Land Rover and drive back to Bridego, once he had spotted the Travelling Post Office and alerted them.

Roy shone the torch while Roger fiddled with his battery and wires. The Flowerpot Man put the clips onto the red signal's bulb, which glowed into life. He disconnected it.

'Now,' Roger said, 'for Katie's secret ingredient.' He mimed crumbling an Oxo cube before he pulled a glove from his pocket and slid it over the bulb in the green signal. He then craned his neck to ensure it masked the 'proceed' light completely.

'A glove?' Roy asked, unable to keep the incredulity from his voice.

'Can't be any old glove. Nice bit of leather, this.'

'We're going to rob a train with a glove?' Roy felt as if he had just discovered that David Nixon couldn't really pull a rabbit from a hat.

'It works, Roy. What's the time?'

'Five to three.'

Roger squirmed to make himself comfortable. 'Worst part, waiting. Hate it, don't you? Must be like the start of a race. Waiting for the flag.'

He was beginning to burble. 'Shut up, Rog.'

'Yeah. Sorry.'

Roy suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for the bag of nerves sharing a walkway with him. 'How did you ever get involved in this, anyway?'

The answer was short, yet rueful. 'Ask my bookie.'

Well, he wasn't alone, there were several in the group who described themselves as 'bookmakers' but who were, in reality, more punter than bookie. If they did get the haul, Roy daren't think how much would eventually go on gee-gees or at the Sportsman or similar establishments. He spoke into the walkie-talkie. 'Bruce? We're in place. Over.'

'Good. Nothing yet. I'm going to flash my torch, three long signals. See it?'

'Yes.'

'That's the back-up in case the walkie-talkies fail, so keep your eyes open. How's Roger?'

Roger was now rubbing his hands together nervously. A twitch had appeared at the corner of his mouth. When he smiled, he looked slightly demented.

'A-One,' said Roy. Roger flashed him a thumbs-up.

'OK, over and out.'

Another train came from the south, a diesel this time, its engine thumping lazily. It passed under Bridego, its blazing

lights raking the track ahead. Roy hoped everyone was well tucked away.

Then he heard the grinding of brakes and the falling note of an engine losing power. The train was stopping.

'Shit,' he said.

Roger stirred himself. 'Signals are on green. Silly buggers shouldn't stop.'

The locomotive came to a halt beneath them. Even above the rumble of the idling engine, they could hear muffled voices from the cab. The walkie-talkie gave a squawk and Roy switched it off.

He saw movement in the darkness to his left, where some of the heavies were. He could imagine what they were thinking. We'd best take this train out, too.

There was the sound of hearty laughter at a shared joke from the cab. They wouldn't be chortling if they knew the kind of blokes who were concealed a few yards away from them, thought Roy.

Then, the sound of running water – a heavy stream, slowly weakening. One of them was taking a piss.

As soon as it had finished the diesel note changed to something more urgent; there was a jerk, a clank and the train moved off.

'I should report them for that,' said Roger with genuine exasperation.

Roy switched the walkie-talkie back on.

Silence descended once more over the silver-washed scene. The moon appeared to have grown brighter, the night warmer. Roy was sure the latter was from the burst of adrenaline when the loco had stopped. He was well aware now how easily it could all go wrong. There must be simpler ways to earn a Formula One car, he thought to himself.

'It's coming. This is it.' For a second the words seemed to make no sense. What did he say? Was that Bruce? Roy looked at the walkie-talkie in disbelief. 'Repeat, this is it, chaps,' the voice said again. 'The real thing.'

Fuck.

Roy poked Roger into action and switched on the torch. The beam wavered slightly, but he had to admire Roger's steady hand as he slipped the glove into place, positioned the battery and connected the clips. No sign of nerves or twitches this time. 'Done!' he exclaimed.

There was now a red light at Sears Crossing.

Sears Crossing, 8 August 1963

Driver Jack Mills swore when he saw the dwarf signal glowing amber. They were on the final run into Euston. No more mail to pick up or coaches to be added – his engine was pulling twelve carriages now – no more swapping of GPO personnel as shifts changed. Once the train was into Euston, then he could sign off. There would be the rigmarole of transferring the HVP sacks to the East Central District Post Office and distributing it to various banks, including the Bank of England, but that was no concern of his. He would be well into his second mug of tea, having polished off a decent breakfast, by the time the train was emptied.

Odd, Mills thought. The dwarf signal's rail magnets normally triggered an AWS, an Automatic Warning Signal, in the cab and a horn sounded when the light was at 'caution'. But neither had kicked in. He would have to report a malfunction.

'Red,' said David Whitby, his young fireman.

'I can see that, son,' he said, although Whitby was only showing his driver that he was paying attention, that he could see the main signal was on red, demanding that they halt. Mills applied more braking and the massive engine shuddered as its power was curtailed, like a great stallion pulled up too soon.

Whitby moved to the door of the loco, ready to jump down and make the call to determine how long they would be stuck at Sears Crossing.

Inside the HVP carriage, Assistant GPO Inspector Thomas Kett was only vaguely aware of the train slowing. He, Frank Dewhurst and Leslie Penn were busy sorting the last of the letters, the ones with such appalling writing that they had been set aside so that all three men could work on interpreting the scrawl. They had also picked up two junior sorters, John O'Connor and Joe Ware along the route.

'Is that Cheltenham or Chelmsford?' he asked Frank. 'There's no bloody county.'

'Chester-le-Street.'

'You sure? Les, what does that say?'

'Stopping again,' said Les absentmindedly. He glanced out of the grimy, barred windows, but that told him very little. He looked at his watch. Almost a quarter after three.

'Never mind that. What do you reckon it says?'

'Chesterfield.'

'Oh, for cryin' out loud.' They had stopped completely now. Thomas placed the troublesome letter aside for a fourth opinion. 'Put the kettle on, will you, Joe? Be in here another hour at least at this rate.'

'For fuck's sake,' said David Whitby loudly as he put the phone to his ear. The line was dead – which meant a walk to

a signal box or to another phone. And that would be down to him.