Volunteers heartbroken at heritage railway break-in

Phil Harris, a volunteer with Severn Valley Railway, said the break-in had caused a lot of upset among the team at the station

A theft of rare lamps and other historical items from a heritage railway station has left volunteers "heartbroken", the organisation has said.

The break-in was discovered at Severn Valley Railway's (SVR) Eardington station on Tuesday when staff found the door of the lamp room had been forced open.

Up to a dozen lamps, worth a few hundred pounds each, were taken along with other items including a cast iron door sign.

"They represent a great deal of emotional value to us at Eardington. We are heartbroken that this has happened," stationmaster Steve Downs said.

The collection of lamps had been built up over the years by SVR's volunteer lamp man, Phil Harris, who said the worst loss to him was the theft of his toolbox.

"This had something like 20 years’ worth of accumulated spare parts and special tools that I’ll find very difficult to replace," he said.

"Whoever took this has no concept of the upset this has caused the team here at Eardington.

"By taking my toolbox, you’ve taken away my ability to carry on my job."

The lamps would be difficult to replace and each was worth a few hundred pounds, the heritage railway said

Replacing the lamps would be extremely difficult due to how rare they were, a spokesperson for the railway said, adding the collection was built up over many years.

The team at Eardington would be delighted if whoever took them "had a fit of conscience and quietly returned them", they added.

Photos of the items were being circulated on SVR's webpage and social media in case anyone tried to sell them on the open market.

The station, the smallest on SVR's line which runs between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster, had reopened to passenger trains last year for the first time in 40 years, the group said.

The Eardington burglary came a few days after cast iron signs were taken from SVR's nearby Hampton Loade station, a spokesperson said.

West Mercia Police said it was told of the burglary at 10:25 BST on 17 April and its investigation was ongoing.