Railway man moved as stolen tool box replaced

A volunteer, thought to be one of the country's last railway lamp men, said he was delighted after a good Samaritan replaced his stolen toolbox by making a new one.

Thieves broke into Eardington station, Bridgnorth, where 71-year-old Phil Harris volunteers for the Severn Valley Railway. Valuable lamps were stolen, along with the toolbox, which was full of kit Mr Harris used to maintain the station's oil lamps.

Fellow volunteer, Matthew Rowland, 37, from Conwy, north Wales, made a replica Victorian toolbox by hand and filled it with tools as a replacement.

Mr Harris said he was delighted that someone he did not know thought so much of the railway and the work he did to go to all that trouble.

The toolbox was handmade, and a replica of a Victorian railwayman's toolbox

Eardington station has no electricity and relies on Mr Harris's skills to keep it lit and heated.

It is believed to be the only one in the UK still lit entirely by oil lamps, making Mr Harris one of the country’s last ‘lamp men.’

"I read about Phil's robbery, it was disgusting," Mr Rowland, a volunteer on the Blaenau Ffestiniog railway, told BBC Radio Shropshire.

"I thought, I'm sure I can do something here, I can do some good."

Mr Rowland replicated the design of a Victorian railwayman's toolbox, and presented it to Mr Harris.

"I was absolutely over the moon, I was taken aback, because I'd not anticipated anything like this," said Mr Harris.

"I thought the tools would be in a bag, I was very moved."

Mr Harris has been volunteering at the Severn Valley Railway for almost 10 years

Mr Harris retired in 2013, and has been volunteering for the heritage railway for almost a decade.

He has been collecting his tools for years, one file was particularly sentimental after being inherited from his father.

The Severn Valley Railway runs from Bridgnorth in Shropshire to Kidderminster in Worcestershire.