Steam rail thefts could have caused 'derailment'

Michael Darling, a trustee, shows the type of screws that were stolen from the privately owned railway line

Heritage railway volunteers have "worked tirelessly" to reopen in time for the tourist season after thieves put their trains at risk of derailment.

The North Tyneside Steam Railway Association said more than 1,200 fixtures, which safely secure the track, were stolen while the site was closed.

Bosses at the family attraction near North Shields said it could have caused a major accident with "serious consequences".

They said it would still reopen on Sunday after the team worked round the clock to carry out repairs.

Steam-hauled trains are run by volunteers along a two-mile-long (3.2km) railway from Middle Engine Lane to Percy Main for families and enthusiasts.

However, about 800 screws and 400 keys, which fix the track to the sleepers, were found missing covering 75m (246ft) of track in the Percy Main area.

It is estimated to have cost about £2,500 to replace and make the track safe.

Volunteer train drivers Joseph Stuart and Stephen Thornton have been disappointed by the thefts

"The main risk is that we could have suffered a serious derailment," Michael Darling, a trustee at the railway, told the BBC.

"It's very disappointing. Our volunteers have worked very hard to repair the damage, using the stocks we had, but they're very diminished now.

"All of our volunteers had been really excited to be running on Sunday, so it was a shock and something we could have done without.

"It's a little bit of a damper but we're hoping to bounce back."

British Rail rolling stock from the 1950s are pulled along the North Tyneside track by steam

Security measures have since been increased, which include daily random track patrols and CCTV.

Northumbria Police said inquiries were ongoing into the theft, which happened sometime during March when the site was closed.

The group was originally founded in 1977 to restore railway items from a former goods shed in Sunderland.

It then relocated to a former test track for the Tyne and Wear Metro, which was then converted into a steam-hauled passenger railway.