Burglars have 'absolutely trashed' a heritage railway museum, smashing windows and setting off fire extinguishers.

Thieves broke into Didcot Railway Centre last night and left the place looking like it had been 'hit by a tornado', said staff.

Events manager Sarah Jermyn discovered the wreckage first thing this morning and described it as ‘pretty devastating’.

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The hugely popular 21-acre living museum houses a collection of heritage locomotives, carriages and wagons and artefacts set around the original 1932 engine shed.

Mrs Jermyn said: “In the engine shed there are fire bars, which are used to rake through the fire and empty it for the next day.

"Some are lined up in the shed and some are on the back of the engines – they took those and used them to smash windows quite the way down the side of the engine shed, out of spite I think.

"The engine shed is the original listed building from when Great Western came to Didcot and so significant in heritage railways."

Oxford Mail:

Windows were smashed in the centre's two offices and fire extinguishers set off 'all over the place', destroying the computers.

“They smashed the door into a million pieces," she said. "They broke into cabinets and there was paperwork strewn across the office. They set off fire extinguishers so all the computers are damaged.

“They smashed a wall where the safe is with a fire extinguisher but didn’t manage to get into the safe. They went into all the cabinets and drawers in the accounts office so there was years’ worth of accounts strewn everywhere and they let off a fire extinguisher in there.

"They smashed the windows in our first-aid room even though the door was open."

Mrs Jermyn said she thinks the burglars were probably after cash.

She said: "The café, shop and archive weren’t touched, they are all alarmed and I’m only five minutes away so me and my husband would have got here.

“Looking at the CCTV we do have from just outside the office they were wearing rucksacks so they were probably looking for things they could put in there.”

She added: “They are not on CCTV so they did not come through the main gate from the station. We think they must have come over the main railway line especially as it’s now not operating to Oxford."

Oxford Mail:

Didcot Railway Centre is run by a registered charity The Great Western Society.

She said: “As a charity, it’s really hurtful that people would do this to us. It’s just disappointing, you just lose trust in people. We had a spate of thefts last year but just small things.

“We’ve cleared up as best we could and we carry on. We have an open day Paddington at Didcot on May 1 and we’ll carry on. It’s just, where does it end?"

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “We received a report of a burglary at Didcot Railway Centre in Station Road, Didcot, at 8.35am this morning (19/4).

“Between 5.30pm yesterday (18/4) and 7.45am this morning, unknown offenders broke in and caused extensive damage. However, it was unclear if anything has been taken.

“The report has been filed pending further information coming to light."

Anyone with more information should call 101 or make a report on the police website, quoting reference number 43230169351.