£10,000 appeal starts to tackle Severn Valley Railway graffiti

Work has begun on removing graffiti which was daubed over the trains but the team are keen for funding to continue to allow them to finish the job.

Almost £1,000 has already been raised from generous members of the public – now the SVR has a launched a plea in an attempt to raise £10,000.

The damage was discovered early on Boxing Day, when workers were shocked to find spray paint covering the carriage sides.

Severn Valley Railway general manager Nick Ralls said: “This was not what we expected to come back to after our Christmas Day closure.

"It’s heart-breaking to think that in just a few minutes the people who carried out this attack have caused hundreds of hours of extra work for our volunteers and staff.

"However, we’ve dealt with worse before, such as the devastating floods of 2007, and we’ll deal with this too.”

Work has begun to put right the damage to the first affected carriage, 2701, a teak-bodied vehicle designed by Sir Nigel Gresley, and owned by the SVR Charitable Trust.

It entered the Carriage & Wagon paint shop at Kidderminster where it will remain for up to a month.

Remedial work on the other vandalised carriage, No 1146, owned by the GW (SVR) Association, will begin in February, and is likely to take a month to complete.

As the Charitable Trust launched its appeal for donations for help restore the damaged carriages, director Shelagh Paterson said: “As soon as the news of the attack broke, we started receiving offers of help from people who were clearly as shocked as we are. On the first day alone, nearly £1,000 was donated online. We very much hope that this generous support will continue to help us meet the total cost of £10,000 to get these important carriages back into service as soon as possible.”

Find out how to donate at svrtrust.org.uk/individual-support/donate-online-2.html