Thieves have stolen two lamps from a model steam engine – on the day it made its public debut.
Model engineer hobbyist Tony King agreed to display his two miniature steam traction engines at the annual Glenbuchat spring fair at the weekend, after years of hard work.
But before the show had even properly started, callous thieves had made off with the two brass lamps of one of the engines.
Mr King took the showman and agricultural engines, which are a third of the size of the full-scale ones, out of his shed opposite Glenbuchat Hall at about 10am on Saturday, and left them at the side of the road.
About two hours later he moved them across to the hall’s car park in time for the fair, which began at 1.30pm.
Delighted with the attention his beloved engines were getting from the crowd, Mr King did not notice anything amiss until he was putting them away the next day.
He said: “I didn’t realise that the lamps had been taken from the agricultural engine until the next day when I was putting the dust sheet on.
“It must have been fairly early on that they were taken. I looked at some photos from the fair and they were gone very early on – before most of the public turned up. When I looked at a photo taken at 1.20pm, they were gone.
“It will have been a totally opportunistic thing, and unfortunately it would have been very easy to get them off.”
It will cost at least £200 to replace the lights, and will add to the thousands of hours Mr King has spent lovingly putting together and painting the models.
“The engines had never been out of the shed until Saturday,” he said, admitting his biggest concern had been it would rain and damage the engines.
“The agricultural engine has been finished for two years and this was its first showing to the public.
“It was a lovely sunny day and people loved them. The showman’s engine is 8ft long while the agricultural engine is 5ft. It took me about four years of fairly intensive work to finish it, and the showman’s engine took me five years.
“It’s just so frustrating.”
The brass lamps are partly painted black, and are about 5in including the handle.
Constable Wayne Young, who is investigating the theft, added: “The fair was very busy with attendees enjoying the family event and I would ask that if anyone has any information about that they contact us on 101 with details.”