A Midlands rail firm has come to the rescue of a Derbyshire heritage railway trust to help it clean up graffiti after spray-painting vandals caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.
MTMS, which maintains rail depots across the UK and is based in Moira, Leicestershire, has handed over graffiti-cleaning chemicals to The Midland Railway Butterley, which is based near Ripley, following the attacks last month.
The trust, which owns and operates dozens of diesel and steam engines as well as historic rolling stock, hit the headlines when night-time raiders spray-painted two working 1980s Pacer train buses.
Sadly, vandalism and graffiti have become a fact of life for the heritage railway trust, which uses the trains to run pleasure trips for families and enthusiasts along the three-mile stretch of track linking Butterley with Ironville.
And it is the latest spate in an ongoing battle between UK train operators and graffiti artists, whose need for fame and respect within their subculture costs millions of pounds to put right each year.
Evan Green-Hughes, chairman of the operating committee at The Midland Railway Butterley, said: “Without the support of the community and commercial partners, projects like ours wouldn’t be able to go ahead so we’re very grateful to MTMS. Railways are a very expensive business and funding them from the public donations and the fare box is extraordinarily difficult.
“We’ve used the graffiti cleaner on the Pacer and now it’s ready to be repainted.”
MTMS offers a wide range of services to rail operators, including maintaining and servicing key depot equipment such as carriage-wash machines and fuelling systems.
It also supplies specialist chemicals, including graffiti remover and its GraffStop system, a polymer coating which, when applied, enables subsequent graffiti to simply be washed off.
Matt Forst, managing director of MTMS, said: “Graffiti attacks are an occupational hazard for rail operators up and down the country but it’s cruel for vandals to target trains that are cared for and operated by volunteers who simply want to bring pleasure to members of the public.
“We hope that this graffiti cleaner will help The Midland Railway Butterley to complete the removal and, although we hope that further attacks do not happen, we hope it will prove to be useful in the future too.”
