Staff at Steamrail Victoria say they feel “absolute broken-heart disgust” after graffiti vandals attacked painstakingly restored historic trains at Newport.
The not-for-profit organisation, which restores vintage steam, diesel and electric locomotives and carriages, discovered the vandalism in the lead-up to its March open-day event.
Marketing manager Cathie Skelton said the vandals had broken in to an area of the Champion Road railyard that is declared dangerous and condemned. “It’s in an area that’s all locked up, which we don’t go in to very often, so we don’t know exactly when it happened but we found it last week.
“It’s one of a couple of our old electric trains, wooden ones, that were actually done up by the state. We had a couple of carriages attacked: one of our old diesels, one of our old steam engines.
“We just feel disgust, absolute broken-heart disgust. A lot of volunteer hours go into these trains and we don’t get funding or anything like that, so it’s just very downheartening.” The vandalism has been reported to Williamstown police.
Built in the 1880s, the Newport workshops were the birthplace of many locomotives and carriages, dating back to the early 20th century.
Ms Skelton said staff and volunteers hoped to attract big crowds for open days on March 9 and 10. There will be steam locomotives on display, heritage diesels and electrics, and the Delorean from Back to the Future.
