Railway Centre vows to 'keep going' after baton-wielding thieves cause 'carnage' by smashing offices

  • Watch: Thousands of pounds worth of damage has been caused to a railway centre, as Charlotte Briere-Edney reports

Two thieves caused thousands of pounds worth of damage when they broke into Didcot Railway Centre earlier this week.

But despite the destruction and theft of equipment, the charity has vowed to 'keep going' and be open as usual for visitors this weekend.

The two burglars, who were caught on CCTV carrying out the raid in the early hours of Wednesday morning, both appear to be male.

They stole around £1,000-worth of equipment including six brand new walkie talkies, two mobile phones and two credit card machines.

But the damage caused was even worse.

Draws were open and items were left strewn all over the floor by the thieves Credit: Didcot Railway Centre

"I think everybody was a bit shocked about what actually happened," says Sarah Jermyn, the events co-ordinator at the Railway Centre.

"It looks like they initially started to go into our first aid room. They smashed a couple of the windows in there."

"The door was just broken into a million pieces. It has come off its hinges and there were pieces all over the floor.

"A lot of the windows in the offices and engine shed have been broken.

"Cabinets and drawers have been broken into and just the contents strewn everywhere while they were hunting for whatever it was they were they were hunting for."

Luckily no railway memorabilia was stolen, and the locomotives and rolling stock were spared any damage.

Despite using fire extinguishers to try to batter down doors, the thieves failed to gain access to other rooms on the site.

Thieves used fire extinguishers to batter doors and windows Credit: Didcot Railway Centre

"We toyed with the idea of closing. But then that's not what we do. We carry on," says Sarah stoically.

The clear up and repairs are already well underway.

New doors and window panes have been fitted and staff say some are even an improvement.

"Everybody mucked together to clear everything up, everybody mucked together to make sure that the buildings were as secure as they could be overnight, and and that things were left in a state for us to basically just carry on as normal," says Sarah, who's been coming to the living museum since she was a child.

Sarah Jermyn says if people want to support the centre in the wake of the burglary, she'd rather they come and visit than simply donate.

"We do get a lot of support from local people in Oxfordshire generally.

"I think the message from us is come and visit us. Use your money to pay to get in and come and see what we do.

"We're really passionate about what we do and we're not going to let this get in the way of it."

Pointing at the locomotives she sighs: "You know, these lovely green beasts are the thing that keeps us going. So come and visit and see what we're about.

"Have a ride and come and play trains for a day - it's all good fun!"