Bench ends stolen from Cheltenham Racecourse station (BBC News 22/09/2010)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Cast-iron bench ends worth about ^4,000 have been stolen from a railway station platform in Gloucestershire.

The bench ends which each weigh about 55lb (25kg) were taken from Cheltenham Racecourse station last Friday.

Some are original but most are replica Great Western Railway pattern castings, with the letters GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) on them.

Police said the theft, which happened overnight, was not caught on CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision). Officers have appealed for anyone with any information to contact them.

Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's volunteer Cheltenham area group looks after the station.

'Shadowy figures'

The group's chairman Col Bob Stark said the castings would not be worth much as scrap.

He explained a volunteer reported that the benches had been dismantled at about 1740 BST on Friday. They searched the station and found the castings stacked up in a hedge.

He said: "We called the police and organised some help to move these very heavy items to safe storage. But when we returned little more than an hour later, they had disappeared."

He said CCTV tape showed cameras at the station being removed "by shadowy figures using flashlights".

"It saddens me greatly that the people who did this would describe themselves as railway enthusiasts," he added. "They're clearly knowledgeable and well aware of the value of Great Western Railway artefacts and I believe that they have a ready market. They could have been taken to order for collectors or another former Great Western heritage railway."

The railway is offering a ^500 reward or information leading to the recovery of the castings or the catching of the thieves.

Col Stark said other railways, auction houses and the Heritage Railway Association had been alerted.

A Gloucestershire Constabulary spokesman said officers had alerted scrap yards in the area to the theft.

[eightf48544]

They searched the station and found the castings stacked up in a hedge.

He said: "We called the police and organised some help to move these very heavy items to safe storage. But when we returned little more than an hour later, they had disappeared."

He said CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) tape showed cameras at the station being removed "by shadowy figures using flashlights".

Interesting!

[John R]

Thankfully they were recovered a day later when a local scrap merchant read the story and realised that he had bought them the previous day.

[JayMac]

John R, were they recovered a day after the story broke or the day after they were stolen (17th)? I've not found any updated news. The earliest article I can find to the theft is 21st September, so if they were recovered the next day it seems strange that news outlets aren't checking for updates and continuing to publish that Police want anyone with information to come forward.

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway haven't updated the story on their site either.

Do you know something we don't, John R?

[John R]

ChrisB, were they recovered a day after the story broke or the day after they were stolen (17th)? I've not found any updated news. The earliest article I can find to the theft is 21st September, so if they were recovered the next day it seems strange that news outlets aren't checking for updates and continuing to publish that Police want anyone with information to come forward.

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway haven't updated the story on their site either.

Do you know something we don't, Chris B?

I'll assume your questions are addressed to me.

My source is the comments on the GWSR website below the article describing their theft. The railway has not seen to contradict them, so I assume they are accurate, even though they might have been expected to update the story or post a new article.

[JayMac]

My apologies John R, got you confused with another poster, had multiple windows open at the time. I've now edited my post replacing ChrisB with John R.

There is another possible reason for my error. I had a tooth pulled this morning and there might be some residual effects from the lignacaine!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks, John!

From the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website: see comment 6 for details.

CfN. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Cheltenham Racecourse station's stolen castings found

The cast-iron ends of period benches that were stolen from a railway station platform in Gloucestershire have been found.

The parts, worth about ^4,000, were taken from Cheltenham Racecourse station last Friday.

Station volunteer Col Bob Stark said the police had phoned him earlier to say a Gloucester scrapyard had puchased them.

He said the yard had offered them back to the railway as a gift.

Col Stark is chairman of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's volunteer Cheltenham area group, which looks after the station.

He said: "We're going to have to find some secure storage to make sure it doesn't happen again."

[Phil]

"It saddens me greatly that the people who did this would describe themselves as railway enthusiasts," he added. "They're clearly knowledgeable and well aware of the value of Great Western Railway artefacts and I believe that they have a ready market. They could have been taken to order for collectors or another former Great Western heritage railway."

It saddens me greatly that the people who jump to such erroneous assumptions would describe themselves as Chairman of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's volunteer Cheltenham Area Group.

Hopefully Mr. Stark is going to be called to account over this. The perpetrators were obviously thieves who were out for the scrap metal value, and to lay the blame at the door of railway ethusiasts based on no evidence whatsoever is both a defamation and a gross innacuracy. Railway enthusiasts should rise up together and bring a group action against this fellow.

[Ollie]

Surely the heritage railways should work together in some respect, rather than accuse each other of theft!

[inspector_blakey]

There is a somewhat half-arsed "thief watch" campaign run by somebody somewhere that I almost never hear anything about... But in general (and I'm talking from years of experience here) it's often rather like herding cats trying to get heritage railway enthusiasts to work together.

However I agree totally that the comments attributed to Stark are unacceptable. As an aside, I always wonder why some people insist on using titles outside of their professional context. Officially (and as those who know me will tell you, slightly hilariously) I'm "Dr" but I can't remember the last time I used it outside of work, where I kind of have to to "keep up with the Joneses" because everyone else had the same title

[Phil]

However I agree totally that the comments attributed to Stark are unacceptable. As an aside, I always wonder why some people insist on using titles outside of their professional context. Officially (and as those who know me will tell you, slightly hilariously) I'm "Dr" but I can't remember the last time I used it outside of work, where I kind of have to to "keep up with the Joneses" because everyone else had the same title

You'll notice I pointedly referred to him as "Mr" for much the same reason 

I remember once when I was a cheeky young pup (difficult to imagine, I know...) I was serving on a village committee where an elderly gentleman insisted on being called "Major". When writing up the minutes, I started giving everyone equally redundant formal titles from past employments or organisations  - including "Patrol Leader" for myself (as high as I ever rose in the Boy Scouts) and "Section Supervisor Mrs. Dierdre L. Ambrose" for a retired factory worker,  etc etc.

Two lots of extremely lengthy & thus virtually unreadable minutes later, we agreed to call everyone by their first name. So much easier.

[Pedros]

My dad had an altercation once with someone on a planning commitee who insisted that he should be addressed as Major Weston (**name altered**), to which my dad turned round and said "You address me as Architect Burton and I'll address you as Major"  Quick meeting that one.

[paul7575]

Officers in the armed forces of the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Major or Squadron Leader or above, retain their rank in retirement as a courtesy.  They are issued by Royal Warrant, unlike the term 'architect'.

Paul

[Electric train]

Officers in the armed forces of the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Major or Squadron Leader or above, retain their rank in retirement as a courtesy.  They are issued by Royal Warrant, unlike the term 'architect'.Paul

Generally only RN officers above Commander use there rank after retirement, the Army (and Royal Marines) it usually from Major (which is equivalent to Lt Cdr RN)  Although the more modern generation of retired officers do not use their previous service rank as much as previous generations