Thefts and Vandalism

Alton Herald reporting that Alton (Mainline) station was burgled, two people arrested. Luckily nothing affecting Mid Hants Railway property.

 

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/vandals-smash-more-100-historic-2816160

 

Damn shame. The only tiny bright spot is that they didn't get at the HST prototype, 41001 (currently visiting the KWVR).

 

According to that report

Vandals broke into Ruddington's Heritage Railway site and smashed more than 100 train carriage windows, causing more than £80,000 worth of damage in a single night.

The offenders, believed to be six teenagers, were said to have broken into the site at around 6pm on Monday, April 29 where they smashed 112 windows on three carriages.

At least one of the coaches was damaged to the point that is likely to end up being scrapped.

Is the comment about one being scrapped correct? It seems a bit of an extreme reaction to broken windows.

 

To me it looked like they were not only smashing windows for fun, they were also looking for stuff to steal. Doors ripped off, inspection hatches opened, floorboards pulled up, all things like that.

 

https://westbridgfordwire.com/fundraising-pages-for-great-central-railway-ruddington-donate-here/

 

https://westbridgfordwire.com/ruddington-train-vandalism-investigation-boys-12-and-14-arrested/

 

…..and now it's the turn of the West Somerset Railway. <BJ>

''Vandals sadly struck the West Somerset Railway on the evening of 29 April 2019 at around 9pm with an attack on a railway coach stabled overnight at Bishops Lydeard in sidings. The damage caused to no W4449 was mainly broken glass with three large carriage windows and two droplight windows in doors being smashed in the attack which is estimated will cost £1,000 to replace and repair. A kind member of the public contacted the WSR about the damage, and General Manager Paul Conibeare attended the scene and informed the Police. Although the Police did not attend the incident, it has been logged with the following Crime number 5219 093628, and anyone with any information about the attack is asked to please call them on 101.

The coach has now been moved to Minehead for repairs in the workshops there which will hopefully take just a few days to complete if replacement glass is in stock. WSR General Manager Paul Conibeare said:

This sad, senseless and costly attack on us is bad news, especially coming at a time when we are all working so hard to build the railway back up again. Suffering £1,000 worth of damage represents a big loss to us at any time, but I'd like to thank the member of the local Bishops Lydeard community who called the railway on the night and reported it to us. Mindless vandalism obviously hurts the railway, but we are determined to keep the WSR running and so providing a major tourist attraction in Somerset''.

 

Apologies to all who do not have a faceache account as you possibly won't be able to see this. It's video of the little toerag actually smashing the coach windows.

https://www.facebook.com/jonny.jones.104/posts/10219694901187211

 

Beginning to wonder if wheel chocks should be padlocked to the track when rolling stock is stabled overnight in sidings.

 

I'm a member and active working volunteer of a group who's overhauling "S15" 828 at the Mid Hants Railway. In April 2018 we were hit by a theft of copper boiler fittings from the loco which were stored in our container at Ropley shed yard.
The thieves managed to drive a vehicle into the yard and broke into our container after trying a couple of others by simply hacksawing the padlocks through. After that they helped themselves.
We think there was a gang of them with a van or lorry as some of the missing parts included both safety valves, both the clack valves, almost all the oil pots (apart from one), the driver's brake valve and an unknown amount of pipework. The only silver lining about the whole sad affair is that they didn't steal everything - when the theft was discovered there was a pile of copper pipework just left dumped on the floor of the container, so the thieves had been disturbed by someone or (more likely) something and planned on coming back later to finish the job. If they'd taken all the parts that would have finished us as a society completely.
I suppose you could say with the benefit of hindsight the parts shouldn't have been stored in our container anyway but then we never expected anything like this to happen. We had obviously been watched by the thieves for a considerable time before the theft happened without realising it as nobody would have known the fittings were there otherwise.
We have strong suspicions, although we can't prove it for definite, that travellers were responsible as the railway's had problems with them in the past. On one occasion some time ago we put back some pipework on the loco underneath the cab temporarily for a special event weekend, only to be politely advised by the MHR that we should take it off as it may be stolen. There was also an incident, a few years ago during a Thomas event on the MHR, when we put some lamp brackets back on 828s tender and a member of the public tried to steal one in broad daylight by taking it off, hiding it under his coat and walking away. He was only stopped by a very keen eyed MHR volunteer!

 

I feel for you. NVR was hit back in late 1997 when a large amount of non ferrous components were stolen from 34081's container and an even bigger amount stolen from 61306's container. By coincidence the theft happened soon after travellers were sent packing after trying to persuade NVR to have the yard tarmacced.

 

The sad fact is that we know we'll never get the parts back. They were more than likely either a) melted down for their scrap metal value and/or b) taken out of the country within a couple of days after being stolen.

 

Sorry to hear of this; I don't think you all were negligent, a padlocked container ought to be reasonably secure - I mean, to step up from that in physical security, you'd almost have to go to a reinforced concrete building with a steel door with internal locking mechanism (i.e. protected behind steel plate).

Glad to hear you all weren't put down by the loss; they may not have taken everything, but that's an extensive list of major components they took.

You say this happened in April 2018; was that a typo for 2019? If not, if you can indulge my curiosity, what led to reporting it now?

Noel

 

Unfortunately there was a break in at the Foxfield railway this week and a large qty of tools were taken and quite a bit of damage caused! A go fund me page has been launched to hopefully replace the tools taken.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/foxfieldrepairfund

 

Similarly at Middleton. Milwaukee Kangos and petrol tampers taken. Not cheap to replace. Police have no real interest.

 

guys. you have to be more pro-active. Floodlighting. Cameras but best of all a couple of ABs.mobile phone and a large Dog. Why do not heritage railways stable suitable overnight accommodation near hot spots? GoFundMe contributors must be getting near
exhaution point

 

Is there no insurance to cover this type of eventuality? Would be wise to consider it.

 

The railways can only do what they can with the money, resources and site limitations allow. Cctv was active but even if they are caught it is unlikely the items stolen will be recovered and the damage still has to be repaired . Short of turning every railway station and depot in to fort Knox this will happen. You can only do so much to mitigate this happening.

 

Floodlighting, cctv cameras (which are regularly viewed on peoples mobiles)and palisade fencing we have. None of these will stop people.

Insured. However, you can't keep claiming as your premiums will rocket. That becomes a judgement call.