Roughly $10,000 value of batteries was taken from their storage during the night last Saturday, plus outdoor gear such as cutting tools, grinder, hedge trimmer, blower, plus a wheelbarrow.
“That is probably what they put the batteries in to get away,” said Garth Familton ruefully. Garth is President of Thames Small Gauge Railway and explained that these batteries are designed for very heavy duty and very costly. Unlike a car battery, they keep going all day don’t run down and as they were carefully removed, the thieves would have known exactly what they were doing.
“There were only two locomotives where the batteries remained as access to get them was more difficult. “
The organisation is completely voluntary but the batteries are insured.
“We can order new ones once the insurance is sorted and it should not be long before they arrive and the small gauge locomotives will be operating again for the public,” added Garth.
Another local newspaper had recently reported that rocks had been removed from the walls near the small gauge railway tracks and some had been left on the tracks. That mystery has not been solved. Let’s hope the perpetrators of this well organised crime are caught and the batteries recovered. The Small Gauge Railway in Thames is a real attraction.
