Thieves send railway attraction off the rails

Brazen thieves engineered a daring raid on a visitor attraction in Britain — by stealing a miniature steam railway locomotive. The bandits also got away with a section of narrow-gauge track and other equipment needed to run the train at the East Kent Railway Trust in southern England, near the port of Dover. Police estimated the total value of the stolen goods to be more than $25,000. The East

Kent Railway, a registered charity run solely by volunteers, offers tourists a six-kilometre steam engine trip on its two narrow-gauge lines. This is not the first time it has been targeted by vandals and thieves, the London Sun reported, citing “multiple occasions” of criminal acts that have forced the operators to install upgraded security systems. It has set up a funding page to help defray costs from the latest theft, the newspaper said. Matthew Plews, general manager at the charity, said the miniature train had recently been refurbished. “We've also lost a variety of other items we use to maintain and improve the site for the public,” he told the BBC. “We try to use these items to give families an affordable day out as the cost of living increases, and it's very frustrating that someone thinks it's OK to break in here and take things.”