Vandals hit Snowdon Mountain Railway: 'English out' graffiti

[John Ashworth]

Vandals hit Snowdon Mountain Railway with 'English out' graffiti and rail damage

BBC 26 March 2012 Last updated at 11:45

"English Out" slogans have been painted on a trackside building and points indicator lights smashed on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

The railway company said the vandalism was discovered early on Monday at Hebron station, around 325m (1,000 ft) above the Llanberis station.

General manager Alan Kendall said the incident would have taken place some time after 17:00 BST, when the last tourist train of the day had finished.

North Wales Police have been informed.

"This is an unusual incident for us - it is something that hasn't happened in the last 11 years that I know of," said Mr Kendall.

"It would appear that somebody wants to target the tourists who come here and want them to see the graffiti."

Mr Kendal said he was surprised at the vandalism, as the railway is a large local employer and its tourism trade brings large sums of money into the area.

"It is regrettable," he said.

'Summer service'

Mr Kendall said railway staff had already acted to paint out the graffiti, and the smashed indicator lights had been replaced.

He said whoever was responsible had driven to the area above Llanberis.

"I think smashing the indicator lights was an after thought - the main thing was the legend painted on the building," he added.

He said the matter had been reported to North Wales Police because of the criminal damage to the track, rather than the graffiti.

The railway has been running a winter service, but is now preparing for the Snowdon summit building to open for the summer.

"For years and years the earliest we would open the summit building was May, but the new building means that last year we were open for Easter," said the general manager.

"We hope to be open on the summit even earlier this year, preparations are well underway, with cleaning and stocking taking place.

"If all goes to plan, we could be open by the end of this week - certainly for Easter - the earliest we have ever had it open."

The summit building, Hafod Eryri, was opened in June 2009, costing £8.4m to build.