When Nelson Lanchester of the Kitsap Live Steamers came upon his group’s outdoor railroad track Aug. 6 at South Kitsap Regional Park, his heart sank. Two days after the volunteer railroad group had laid a new stretch of 7-1/2-inch aluminum track in the Port Orchard park — 1/8th-scale to standard rail track — vandals earlier in the day had pulled out about 110 feet of track and tossed the section to the side, bent and damaged.

The vandals apparently had used a dead tree about 16 inches in diameter as a wedge to pull out the section. They subsequently tossed tree branch onto the tracks.

Local residents told the group that the alleged perpetrators have “bragged about it” on Facebook, Huffman said.

After a volunteer crew worked through the day Aug. 7 repairing the damaged section, the track was ready for service the following day, Aug. 8, a scheduled visitor ride day. According to Live Steamers’ members, the track was placed into service that day and carried a full load of passengers. Organization member Tom Huffman estimates the damage at about $1,250, a replacement cost that doesn’t take into account the volunteer labor used to repair the section.

According to a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office report, a beer bottle, presumably tossed aside by the vandals, was checked for fingerprints. None were identified.About 4,000 feet of track carry a one-eighth-scale train that hauls up to 1,000 visitors through the park on the second and fourth Saturdays each month, said Tom Huffman, a Kitsap Live Steamers member.

While the track hasn’t been immune to vandalism in the past, Hartung said this incident is the first in five years.

Bill Hartung, Live Steamers’ track committee chairman, said the track was the only one in the state to provide rides until a similar track was established in Skykomish two years ago.

One positive from the incident: the Live Steamers received a healthy boost of donations from visitors afterward.

Sgt. Scott Wilson of Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office says no suspects have yet to be identified.