Vandals target heritage railway

The damaged train was being restored with a shiny green exterior

A heritage railway line in Kent says it is suffering badly at the hands of persistent vandals.

The Spa Valley Railway, based in Tunbridge Wells, is kept running through the work of a group of dedicated volunteers.

But the team said vandalism was ending up costing them hundreds of pounds in repairs and clean-up operations.

They had to spend two weeks working on one train carriage which was covered in layers of graffiti.

"It is soul destroying," said the railway's Dave Arnold.

"They broke nearly every window and gave it a re-coat of paint that we don't want.

"It does make me very angry because we spend a lot of time working on these things, and we take a lot of care to make these trains nice and comfortable for our passengers."

The Spa Valley Railway line dates back to 1866.