Teen beauty spot drinkers are ramblers, not rebels
- Dave Burrows
£70,000 copper sheets stolen from Severn Valley Railway
Friday 28th January 2011, 9:02PM GMT.
Copper sheets worth up to £70,000 have been stolen from Shropshire’s Severn Valley Railway in an “audacious” night-time raid.
The intruders struck at the attraction’s Bridgnorth boiler works in a break-in described as “pre-planned and highly professional”.
The gang broke into the boiler shop through an air vent after first disabling a security alarm, and then hot-wired the overhead gantry crane, which was used to lift eleven five-eighth and one-inch gauge copper sheets into the thieves’ vehicle.
The copper sheets, weighing an estimated six tons, had been cut to size and designated as replacement sections for the fireboxes of several locomotives.
They also took a steam pipe and chains.
The railway today offered a £5,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the stolen copper after the raid between 11.30pm on January 20 and 6.30am on January 21.
The thieves had made an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to steal from the boiler shop less than 24 hours before.
It prompted SVR to immediately bring in advisors to take a look at security.
Police scene of crime officers have been studying scrapes on the wall of the boiler shop thought to have been caused by a vehicle, and footprints.
l Heritage — See Page 13
UK News
Most Commented
- Leader: Hospital parking suggestion simply nonsense
- Leader: Crimewave goes up with the mercury
- MP Owen Paterson opposed to same-sex marriages
- Teen beauty spot drinkers are ramblers, not rebels
- Letter: Who will foot public sector bill?
- Hospital 18-week waiting list down to 800
- Parking zones fear for Shropshire hospital workers
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
LIVE traffic updates
Road, rail and airport - latest
Our new, live traffic and travel updates service - check before you set out.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
