VANDALS are being hunted after a heritage railway wagon was set on fire.

Fire crews rushed to the St Mary’s storage yard in Lydney on Saturday afternoon (April 25) after the blazing rolling stock belonging to Dean Forest Railway was spotted.

The wagon was waiting to be restored, said a railway spokesman.

They posted on Facebook: “As if we didn’t have enough to deal with.

“DFR representatives and the fire service are currently on site at St Mary’s after a wagon was set on fire this afternoon.

“This is wrong on multiple levels, but especially given that this constitutes a major breach of lockdown and a waste of time for the emergency services.

“While this wagon was awaiting restoration, all of our items of rolling stock are valuable historic vehicles and vandalism is a criminal offence.

“Needless to say, trespass on any railway (including ours) is illegal and dangerous.

“If you would like to help us, please consider donating to our Emergency Fund appeal: www.dfrsociety.org.uk/dfrs-emergency-fund

“Also, if anyone has any information that would be useful in identifying the criminals responsible, please contact the police on the non-emergency number of 101.

“Our thanks go to our neighbours who reported this quickly so that further damage was prevented.”

One woman posted in response: “We were in the park/lake area this afternoon about 4-4.30 ish. Heard a couple of voices and saw 2 lads walking down railway line.

“They were throwing stones at the engines but we couldnt see them properly just heard them.. sorry haven’t got a decent description of either....wish I’d taken more notice now….”

Many people took to social media to say they had donated to the emergency fund, designed to help keep the railway afloat during the lockdown.

Another poster said: “This makes me really sad and angry to hear being involved in heritage railways myself, with the current situation in the UK and the world currently, why are we having to deal with trespassers and vandals during these times causing more upset and wasting emergency services time.”

The railway operates a 4.5-mile stretch between Lydney and Parkend, taking in beautiful woodland scenery and old stations.