Recently restored Bolton railway site hit with £20,000 of damage

The damage was done at the site in Moss Bank Park in the early hours of Friday morning.

The vandals, understood to have been in a group of around ten, smashed up the track left bits of it on the ground.

The railway, which had reopened to guests around eight weeks ago, was a mile in length.

But following the damage done by vandals there is only 20 feet left.

They also damaged the shutter door of the storage spot of the building on the site.

A crow bar involved in the wreckage was recovered by police at the scene.

Tracey Stirling, the secretary of the Moss Bank Park Model Engineering Society, said: “It is soul destroying.

“They worked through Covid, they worked through the cold to get it done.

“There is probably about £20,000 of damage.

“It is not just about the money.

“We had 300 people come round last week.

“There could have been 300 down today (Sunday).”

The vandals struck just eight weeks after the site had reopened.

It was given a new lease of life when two men, Alfred Molyneux and Bob Sharples, started to work on repairing the historic site, and appealed for help.

After an advert for help around December 2019 more and more people got involved in restoring the site.

By working hard during the pandemic they transformed the site at which grass had grown to two feet high to being able to reopen and welcome guests earlier this year.

Alfred Molyneux, who worked to repair the site, and club secretary Tracey Stirling, have vowed to restore the miniature railway station

But despite the horrendous setback, the group of around 15 volunteers are determined to bounce back.

The secretary added: “We have had those that come and go but there are 15 in the core group.

“There is a big determination to come back.

“The people want us to come back.”

Anyone with information about the vandalism is urged to contact police on 101.