Brechin’s Caledonian Railway has launched a fundraising bid to repair a severely damaged brake van following a devastating fire-raising attack.
The vandalism happened on Wednesday between 10.45 and 11pm with fire almost completely destroying the body of the 1940s LMS brake van, which was largely made out of wood.
The damage is still being assessed but the cost of restoring it is thought to be in the region of £25,000.
To make matters worse, the brake van was only restored less than 18 months ago, with a group of five volunteers spending every weekend working on it for four months.
In response to the overwhelming community reaction to the fire attack, Caledonian Railway has set up a fundraising page on which people can make donations.
Within 12 hours more than 70 people had donated a total of £1,200.
Events manager Andrew Pegg said: “During the winter of 2014, five of our hard-working and dedicated volunteers spent four months painstakingly restoring this brake van to working condition.
“With all our hard work now gone, we are all at a loss and morale between the volunteers has seen a significant drop.
“We were surprised and heartened by the resounding response and all of the kind words of support given to us from the community.
“We have set up this campaign in response to the many kind offers of donations and support from the members of the public.
“We estimate that the total cost of rebuilding this historic brake van will be between £20,000 and £25,000.
“However, an initial fundraising goal of £5,000 has been set to help contribute towards the costs of the restoration work.”
Police are continuing to appeal for information about the attack which occurred at Caledonian Railway’s premises on Park Road.
The alarm was raised shortly after 11pm and firefighters from the Brechin station fought for an hour to extinguish the blaze from both platforms at the railway station.
Donations to the fundraising effort can be made at the crowdfunding page.