VANDALS have wrecked plans to open a railway museum in Barry Island after they trashed an exhibition shed causing thousands of pounds of damage.

Barry Tourist Railway had intended to open a new museum at the depot shed on its Plymouth Road site, on August 5, but it will now be impossible this year with the cost of repairing the damage set to cost in excess of £6000.

Volunteers and staff discovered vehicles and artefacts had been trashed, windows smashed, and oil-based paint thrown around. Several items are also missing.

Managing director of the Barry Tourist Railway and patron of the Barry at War Museum, John Buxton said the team had been looking forward to opening the museum.

Mr Buxton said: “One of the main attractions was to have been a superb miniature railway and military vehicle exhibition.

"Now we’ll have to clear up the mess and find many thousands of pounds to repair and replace the items lost.

"Large sums will also have to be spent on improving the security of the shed and installing a new CCTV system.

"It’s such a shame that these mindless vandals have wrecked our plans.

"Recently we have suffered a spate of anti-social behaviour with stored rail vehicles broken into and three road vehicles on site damaged so much that we had to scrap them.”

He added: “We are trying to do something positive for Barry at our own expense by telling Barry’s history in terms of the docks, the railway and the world wars. "Barry has a proud history and we want to tell the story to the local community as well as visitors to Barry Island.

"We already run the only museum in Barry at the Barry Island station building and we wanted to expand our facility at Plymouth Road.

"However, there are groups of mindless hooligans in Barry who are thwarting our plans. There is no way that we can now open the new museum this year.”

He said that his faith in human nature had been restored as the community rallied with offers of support.

“The Barry community must come together to defeat this minority of mindless vandals,” he said. “The whole community will be the loser if not and we cannot attempt to exhibit our rare, restored artefacts in a building that is being subject to sustained vandalism and theft.”

Keith Baker, the director’s general assistant, said he could see air gun pellets had been fired through the windows which had also been broken from the inside and outside.

Mr Baker said: “Vandals have caused damage over the last 12 months. They are bored and there is nothing for them to do except try to entertain themselves.”

South Wales Police confirmed a break-in and criminal damage that occurred sometime between Saturday, June 10 and Monday, June 12 was being investigated.

Officers want to speak to anyone who may have witnessed anyone acting suspiciously in the area, including Maslin Park, which is at the rear of the property.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting ref 1700225528 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.