The Severn Valley Railway’s smallest station at Eardington has been the target of a raid, in which thieves took a range of rare railway lamps and other items of railwayana.
On Tuesday evening last week station master Steve Downs discovered the attack and raised the alarm. The intruders had forced the door of the tiny station’s lamp room, and Steve immediately spotted that items were missing.
The full extent of the thefts only became apparent the next day when volunteers were able to carry out a daylight inspection.
“Up to a dozen lamps have gone,” explained volunteer lamp man Phil Harris, who has been repairing and restoring lamps at Eardington for the past 10 years. “Then there’s the cast iron door sign, some polished brass oil cans, a milk churn and an enameled advertising sign.”
For Phil personally, the worst loss of all is the theft of his toolbox.
“This had something like 20 years’ worth of accumulated spare parts, and special tools that I’ll find very difficult to replace. Whoever took this has no concept of the upset this has caused the team here at Eardington.
“We’ve lavished so much care and attention on this, and to have somebody come and do this, well, it’s shocking.
“I wish I could speak to whoever did this, because what is just a lamp to them, is a great deal more to our heritage railway. This is history, something we can demonstrate and show to visitors, it adds value to the railway, and at a stroke, you’ve destroyed it. Plus by taking my toolbox, you’ve taken away my ability to carry on my job.”
Station master Steve Downs added, “We have informed the police and are circulating photographs and details of the lamps widely. Though these lamps are rare, they are probably not worth a huge amount, but they represent a great deal of emotional value to us at Eardington. We are heartbroken that this has happened.”
Last year, Eardington station re-opened to passenger trains for the first time in 40 years. Widely considered as the SVR’s ‘hidden gem’, it has no electricity supply and is the UK’s only exclusively oil-powered railway station.
The Eardington break-in follows the theft a few days earlier of cast iron signage from nearby Hampton Loade station.
Anyone with information that could lead to the recovery of any of these items can contact West Mercia police, or get in touch with Steve directly at steve.downs@svrlive.com.
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