Star comment: Pointless attack on heritage line
Just in time for the Easter weekend, vandals have smashed 18 train windows at one of Shropshire's visitor attractions, the Telford Steam Railway at Horsehay.
The suspicion is that children on their holidays were responsible for hurling bricks and other missiles at the windows of five coaches and two locomotive engines, leaving a repair bill of £5,000.
Leaving to one side for a moment the absolute pointlessness of what has been done, look at it from the point of view of those who put in the time and effort to create this living, working, steam railway.
The railway’s midweek manager Jacky Mccusker sums it up: “It’s soul-destroying... It’s absolutely mindless yobs who have done this.”
In other words, while they are trying to create something, and something good, there are those bent on destroying it.
A group are thought to have been responsible for the crime on Wednesday evening. Somebody will know who they were, as in these cases involving groups, they tend to brag proudly about what they have done.
A tip off to police is in order so, if the culprits are indeed children, they learn the lesson that actions have consequences.
Meanwhile, the steam trust says it will be business as usual over Easter. It will be an opportunity for decent folk to show their support.
