Vandals strike steam festival

The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway’s big weekend was hit by a spate of vandalism, but the show still went on thanks to determined officials and volunteers.

 

Stations at Llanfair Caereinion, Heniarth and Cyfronydd were all hit on Saturday night, leaving organisers of the Annual Steam Gala with an unwanted cleaning up operation to ensure everything stayed on track for Sunday morning.

 

Police are appealing for information, but the event organisers are just relieved that it did not mar what turned out to be a successful event for the area.

 

“This is our busiest weekend of the year so it was upsetting,” said Kevin Haywood, Deputy Manager of Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. “It was more an inconvenience to us because we had to ensure the mess was cleared up at the three stations before we started Sunday. But overall it was a successful weekend which attracted visitors from as far afield as Australia and the USA to the area.”

 

A bench was smashed; signs ripped up; plant pots broken and lights damaged by the vandals at some time between 1-3am on Sunday morning.