Robert "Bob" Harbottle was only 21 when he was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for his part in the derailment of the train in 1926.

 

In his response to Newcastle's Evening Chronicle in 1965, Bob was adamant he wasn't going to talk about the past. As one of the four survivors, he was also interviewed for the BBC's Yesterday's Witness (1970) and still insisted it was something he rarely talked about. However, he is filmed in a workingman's club, and his contribution is very informative. 

 

In her excellent book, Let No Wheels Turn: The Wrecking of the Flying Scotsman, 1926, Margaret Hutcherson mentions the steps Bob's family took towards securing his release. Margaret outlines how the Harbottle family Bible contained many letters written by Bob while he was in prison, and how the family wrote a letter to the Home Secretary asking for his release.

 

So what else do we know about Bob apart from the fact he was the youngest imprisoned Wrecker? Based on an article that appeared in The Cramlington Orbit in January 1975, Bob was born to parents James and Margaret Harbottle on September 10, 1905, one of six brothers and a sister. 

 

The family lived in West Cramlington, and he was taught by school teacher "Granny" Forbes.

 

Aged 13, he began work at Wrightson Pit in the village, a stone's throw from the family home, at the bottom of the garden. At the time of his arrest, Bob was living with his parents at 25 Lane Road in West Cramlington village.