Staff at Avon Valley Railway 'hurt' by "substantial" theft

The theft happened between the 23-28 December

A railway charity says a large number of track materials including cast iron chairs have been stolen from its property over the Christmas period.

Staff at Avon Valley Railway discovered the large theft from the yard in Bitton, near Bristol, on Thursday.

Trustee Joseph Dean said the value the items to the thieves was "nothing" compared to the cost to the charity.

He said the items were stolen between 23 and 28 December and the police had been informed.

The three-mile-long railway is mostly run by volunteers and works to restore the heritage line and its trains.

Mr Dean said: "After a lot of hard work put in by our volunteers and staff over another successful Santa season, to discover we have been targeted by thieves again hurts... particularly as stolen items can lead to volunteer work and projects coming to a halt."

The "substantial quantity" of cast iron chairs - used to hold the rails in place and bolted to the sleepers, holding the track to gauge - were likely to have been passed over the fence and away down the cycle path, he added.

He said the chairs had been earmarked for planned track work within the yard and had been collected and acquired by volunteers over several years.

"The value of approximately two tonnes of 'scrap' cast iron will be nothing compared to the price we will now need to pay to replace them with new [items] - somewhere in the region of £3,000-£4,000," he said.

"[It is] money that we didn't need to spend."

Mr Dean said theft can make volunteers uncomfortable when undertaking working, with an "overarching risk of theft or vandalism of their work"

The theft followed other incidents over the last few years where track and signalling components have been stolen.

With running costs getting higher year on year, it was putting extra pressure on the charity, Mr Dean said.

"We find it extremely difficult to keep funding replacements, with some heritage items particularly difficult to source or replace entirely," he said.

Site security was being addressed to improve fencing and CCTV, with donations being sought by the charity to help cover costs.

Anyone with information on the theft is being asked to contact Avon and Somerset Police.