£10,000 appeal launched after vandals attack two SVR heritage carriages

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

SVR general manager Nick Ralls says, “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, as supervisor Hugh McQuade explains:

“Our first task was to remove the spray paint by sanding down to the varnish. Fortunately, the layer of soot acquired during the carriage’s service in December, has acted as a protective layer, stopping the cellulose-based spray paint from reacting with the varnish and our own white spirit-based painted lining and gold leaf lettering. We’ll need to touch up the lettering and lining in a number of places, but the main job now is to prepare the undamaged remainder and apply several coats of new varnish to the entire side of the carriage.

“I’ve been humbled by the response of volunteers to this setback, and I have a willing and able team who are more than capable of tackling the job. The main problem is that we won’t be able to carry out the planned essential work on other carriages, and this will set us back several months in our schedule. The knock-on effects of it all will be felt for a long time to come.”

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.”

Donations can be made online at www.svrtrust.org.uk or by phoning 01562 757940.