VANDALS who went on a wrecking spree at Buckfastleigh’s steam railway station have been blasted as ‘mindless’ by their victims.

Operators of the popular South Devon Railway attraction said today (January 23) that last week’s attack on their offices and vintage trains had caused much stress to the volunteers who help run the nostalgic show.

They are still counting the cost of the assault on the enterprise which suffered a similar devastating hit last year.

A spokesman said: ‘A number of train windows were smashed in the coaches - one of which dates back to the 1930s. It’s a very historic vehicle.’

He added: ‘This was a fairly serious break-in. It’s all very sad for us of course because it not only costs time and money to carry out these unnecessary repairs, but also it distresses our dedicated staff and hard working volunteers - all of whom find it abhorrent that our charity has been targeted by mindless thieves and vandals.’

‘It’s the second time in less than 12 months that we have suffered such an attack at Buckfastleigh. The last time, in March 2016, a local woman launched an appeal which raised some £500, passing her initial target to help offset the £400 cost of damage caused by vandals who broke into a buffet coach where they stole goods and damaged the interior.’

The latest assault happened overnight on Thursday into Friday morning.

Offenders smashed their way into the stationmaster’s office and billing office and another office some time after 7pm. Anyone with information about the latest attack should ring police on 101, quoting crime CR/004646/17.