Volunteers heartbroken over signal box vandalism

Volunteer Doug Stoddart said every window of the signal box was smashed

A railway signal box has been vandalised, leaving volunteers devastated.

Telford Steam Railway, which leases the redundant box in Lightmoor, Telford, from Network Rail, was called to the site on Monday.

Brickwork had been damaged, windows were smashed and paint was thrown across the room.

"Every window frame and window in the building has been smashed. That’s really the biggest damage," said volunteer Doug Stoddart.

"The door hadn’t been broken into, they’d smashed brickwork to get into the bottom of it and access upstairs."

British Transport Police said investigations were ongoing.

Network Rail has been contacted for comment.

Volunteers believe that bricks from the outside of the building were used to smash the windows

It is thought that the bricks were used to smash the windows.

"Cleaning up and repairing all the parts that have been broken and scattered about is the biggest job – and then to get it back fundamentally into a heritage type building," Mr Stoddart said.

The railway is run by donations and repairs will prove costly

Mr Stoddart estimates the damage will cost more than £1,000 to fix, and even more would have to be spent on securing the building.

"We're all volunteers, nobody gets paid, we’ve got to start again basically," he added.

"Everything is done by donations, so money is tight and every penny counts. It’s heartbreaking what’s happened. The reasons why they do it, I don’t know."

Telford Steam Railway has repaired the signal box once before, after it was burned down by vandals in 2016.

The railway said Network Rail would send someone to inspect the site on Wednesday, and repairs would move forward from there.