Severn Valley Railway appeal hits £10k
The Severn Valley Railway has hit its £10,000 appeal target in just a week – after two historic train carriages were vandalised.
Work is under way to remove graffiti daubed on the trains, and now the Severn Valley Railway's (SVR) charitable trust has revealed a flood of donations.
The appeal was launched to meet the costs of repairing the damage caused when vandals sprayed paint along the sides of the vehicles on Christmas Day – the only day that the railway was closed over the festive period.
Charitable trust director Shelagh Paterson said: “The speed and generosity of the response we’ve received shows us just how shocked people were when the news of this awful incident broke. It also shows the depth of their passion for the Severn Valley Railway, and everything it stands for.
"Keeping our heritage alive and accessible is clearly very important to the wide range of people who’ve come forward to add their support.
"With the exception of a handful of larger amounts, most of the donations we received were between £10 and £25. Each one was a vote of confidence in the sterling skills of the SVR’s restoration volunteers and staff, and we are so grateful to everyone for their support."
A donation of £1,000 took the appeal past its £10,000 target, courtesy of the Worcestershire Ambassadors.
The SVR charitable trust received hundreds of individual donations for the appeal.
Many added messages of support, such as Daniel White who said: “The SVR preserves important machines from our past and the experience people can have from them. I hope this helps it to continue to preserve the two vandalised carriages for everyone to experience.”
Work to restore the first of the vandalised carriages, the teak-bodied GNR 2701 dating from 1922, is well underway in the SVR’s Kidderminster paint shop.
A team of volunteers spent three days removing the spray paint by hand. The gold leaf lettering and painted lining on the carriage was badly damaged but is now being painstakingly restored.
The team will then apply several fresh coats of varnish to finish things off. Paint removal will begin in the next few days on the second vandalised carriage, the metal-skinned GWR 1146.
