STAMFORD, England — Four 16-year-old boys have admitted in court they were drinking alcohol and playing soccer in a school gymnasium full of model train exhibits when they began trashing models, flipping tables, and causing more than $35,000 in damage in May.
The BBC reports that three of the boys received 12-month-sentences to a youth intervention program with a fourth to be sentenced in September.
The three boys’ parents were fined about $600 for each youth.
The response to the destruction was immediate with model railroaders from around the world donating in excess of $100,000 to repair the models and layouts damaged. Singer Rod Stewart, a famed model railroader, personally donated about $12,000.
