Historic miniature railway hit by vandals who climbed over fence

An 80-year-old hidden gem which was "brought to its knees" by a devastating arson attack three years ago has once again been hit by vandals. The Merseyside Live Steam and Model Engineers clubhouse, located in Calderstones Park, was almost totally wiped out in an arson attack in May 2021.

The club bolstered its security with CCTV cameras and onsite guards, and attacks on the site mercifully reduced. But the club, which started in 1944 as a way of training former WWII soldiers in basic engineering, has now been targeted again by callous yobs, who allegedly smashed greenhouses and damaged the plants inside yesterday, November 17.

The incident has been reported to Merseyside Police. Luckily, chairman Ian Coules said the club's CCTV had captured two youths climbing over the fence leading to the train site - and that the club had been able to identify their school.

READ MORE: Horses distressed after dog tries to attack them

READ MORE: People on PIP and Pension Credit to get DWP Christmas bonus payment in coming weeks

Ian Coules said: "I can understand the issue for police is they have limited resources and it is only property damage, so from their point of view it's a non-urgent situation. It's a shame, but I am a realist about these things.

"We've generally done very well since the arson attack, which did cause a huge problem in 2021. That's because we have got cameras put in, sirens and people watching out. It got around that we had security on-site. But it's been a few years since then, the youths from that time have moved off and new ones have moved in.

"That's why we were very happy to talk to the school and let the kids know they've been caught on camera, because then it will get around the playground. We're hoping it wont happen again. We've put more cameras in, movement sensors and alarms."

The incident occurred as the club prepares for its annual Christmas event, which invites children to ride the miniature railway to a magical grotto with Father Christmas himself. Last year's festive event attracted more than 800 visitors, and the club hopes to draw in even more this year by adding an extra day to its calendar.

Ian said: "Although this has happened, we are carrying on. We're not going to be put off. That's the big thing for us. We've been going 80-odd years and we're not planning on giving up now."

He added: "We normally do our Christmas run on a Sunday afternoon, but this year we're doing a Saturday as well. We're trying to up our game and improve the things we do.

"Three years ago we were on our knees ready to close after the arson attack and Covid-19; times were very hard and a few people left. I joined shortly after that just to help out for a couple of weeks - now three years later I'm chairman! Since then we've done a huge amount and brought it all back to life.

"It's all voluntary, and we don't charge anybody to use the trains because we want it to be something that families can enjoy. If you have four children, you don't want to be paying three or four pounds per child every time they want a ride, so we ask for donations instead. It's been going all these years, and we want to keep it going.

"Pre-Covid, we used to have Santa ride the train and the kids would ride behind him. Once I took over and we were trying to sort things out, because of the fire damage to the track we couldn't do a full circle, and so we came up with the idea of kids visiting Santa in his grotto in the woodland. When we came to do it last year, we had a huge queue out the gates before we even started.

"We don't count numbers, because we don't do tickets. But we had around about 800 people through and our trains were running non-stop. We are definitely looking forward to it. It's not just that we love the trains, we also love sharing them with the community."