FIREBUGS dealt a savage blow to East Lancashire Light Railway when they smashed and wrecked rolling stock, causing more than £90,000 worth of damage.

Windows were smashed and upholstery torched in four Mark One carriages being readied for refurbishment in a depot near Bolton Street station in Bury - one for the disabled.

In a night of mindless vandalism, the windows of a signal box were smashed and a locomotive broken into and the controls smashed.

Fortunately the wreckers were unable to start the loco.

Trevor Jones, chairman of the railway which operates weekend and Bank Holiday trains between Bury and Rawtenstall on the preserved line, was sickened by the attack.

He said there was no chance of replacing the carriages because Mark Ones no longer existed.

The railway had bought the only ones left in the country.

The rest had been scrapped when taken out of main line service.

Mr Jones said it was a serious blow to the volunteer-run railway.

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