Epping Ongar railway defaced by vandals

Vandals attacked the Epping Ongar railway by "tagging" the sides of three of the historic trains, during a weekend event to mark 20 years since the last Tube trains arrived at Ongar station.

The gang broke into the train yard in the early hours of Sunday morning, with spray cans colouring the refurbished 1960s carriages with the street names ‘Xiki’ ‘Paulo’, ‘Conxi’ and ‘Sofa’.

It is believed they had targeted the specially unveiled tube, the image had gone viral over social media, but the “centrepiece” trains were stored overnight in another location.

Volunteers have been testing chemicals that will remove the paint with damages expected to cost thousands of pounds.

Arthur Camp, of Felsted, has volunteered at the site for nearly 3 years said: “It is a crying shame. If I caught them I would spray paint the vandals and march them through town, see how they like it.

“So much work has gone into this but what else can we do? We have to start again.”

David Hunnikin, Head of Department of Carriages and Wagons, was in the final stages of work on the defaced carriages when the vandals struck.

He said: “Our volunteers were just preparing the body work for painting, but we didn't want it to be like this.”

“They were lucky to avoid the dogs we have on site, they are pretty vicious but they couldn’t get out.

Roger Wright, Managing Director of the heritage railway, remained defiant despite the “pointless graffiti attack”.

“The volunteers have already started the clean-up operation and with the help of contractors we expect it to be completed by the end of the week.

"We remain undaunted by this attack - our trains and buses will be running as normal on Saturday and Sunday."

British Transport Police are currently assisting Essex police in the investigation and are looking through ‘secure’ CCTV footage gathered at the site.

Anyone with information should call Essex Police on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”