Thieves have broken into the equipment shed at for Bally Hooley Steam Train in Port Douglas and stolen up to $15,000 worth of vehicles and power tools. 

The break-in occurred sometime before Wednesday morning, with the intruders using bolt cutters to gain access to the shed, which sits next to the railway’s Sheraton Mirage depot.

General manager Peter Lloyd opened the shed on Wednesday morning and found that the thieves stole a Kubota L3410 tractor worth about $12,000 in addition to a Husqvarna chainsaw, a steel whipper-snipper, an angle grinder and a pressure cleaner.

Police investigations into the case are ongoing with officers reviewing CCTV footage of the area and asking anyone with information to come forward.

Sergeant Damian Meadows of the Port Douglas Police station said that public information could assist in finding the stolen tractor, which must have either been driven out of the area or transported on a flatbed trailer, most likely late at night.

Mr Lloyd said the theft was a blow to the organisation but the Bally Hooley would continue to run.

“I’m definitely very annoyed, to put it politely,” Mr Lloyd said. 

“We’re now going to have to run the train without most of our equipment and find someone we can contract out to to load the tenders for us.

“We’ve got nothing to carry our equipment around with now.”

Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.