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These model trains often require decades to build and are considered priceless by their owners.
這些火車模型往往需要幾十年才能建成，被主人認為是無價之寶。
At market, they can fetch tens of thousands of pounds. And though they're small, one-twelfth the scale of a normal train, they're not that small.
在市場上，它們能賣到幾萬英鎊。雖然它們很小，是普通火車的十二分之一，但它們并沒有那么小。
The locomotives—which burn model-train-sizebricks of coal, carried in model-train-scale tenders and fed with tiny shovels—weigh hundreds of pounds each.
這些機車燒的是火車模型大小的煤磚，裝在火車模型的煤水車上，用小鏟子鏟，每輛機車重數(shù)百磅。
They're powerful enough to pull eight children, who ride, straddling passenger cars, around a special narrow-gauge track at 8 mph.
它們的動力足以拉動八個孩子，他們可以跨坐在乘用車上，繞著一個特殊的窄軌軌道，以每小時8英里的速度前行。
The burglars scoured the grounds, which belong, along with the locomotives, to members of the Gravesend Model Marine & Engineering Society (GMMES), a 66-year-old British railway club.
竊賊們搜查了這塊地，這塊土地和火車機車一起都歸屬于格雷芬德海洋與工程模型協(xié)會（Gravesend Model Marine & Engineering Society），該協(xié)會是一家擁有66年歷史的英國鐵路俱樂部。
They found a hoist, a wheelbarrow, and a set of the club's walkie-talkies. Lifting the Mayflower onto the wheelbarrow, they rolled her to the fences.
他們找到了一臺升降機、一輛獨輪手推車，還有一套俱樂部的對講機。他們把五月花號機車抬到手推車上，把她推到籬笆邊。
Using the hoist, they lifted her over the wood railing, lowered her back into the wheelbarrow on the other side,
用起重機把它抬過木欄桿，放回到另一邊的手推車里，一路推過農(nóng)場，
and huffed her through the farm toward the van, where they had to heave the train over the final fence to reach the curb.
朝著貨車走去。他們不得不把火車吊過最后一道柵欄，才能到達路緣。
They returned at least three more times that night, plundering engines and other club valuables.
他們當(dāng)晚至少又返回三次，把引擎和俱樂部中其他貴重物品也都搶跑了。
In the darkness, the thieves, presumably sapped yet unquestionably successful, piled back into the getaway van and disappeared into the night.
小偷們在黑暗中大概已經(jīng)精疲力盡了，但毫無疑問，他們成功了。他們坐回逃跑用的面包車里，消失在夜色中。
The following morning, around 9 a.m., Derek Williams and his wife, Sheila, were walking their spaniel by the Leisure Centre.
第二天早上9點左右，德里克·威廉姆斯和妻子希拉在休閑中心遛狗。
Williams, a retiree who's been a GMMES member for the past 19 years, strolled by leafless trees, then saw the mangled doors of the shipping containers.
威廉斯已經(jīng)退休，他19年來一直是該協(xié)會的成員。他在樹葉已經(jīng)落光的大樹旁漫步，隨后看到集裝箱破損的大門。
Alarmed, Sheila phoned the police, while Derek dialed the only person he knew who could actually help:
希拉驚慌失措，打電話報警，德里克則撥通了他認識的唯一一個真正能幫忙的人：
Tricia Filley, the club's indefatigable secretary, who was just sitting down at home to cereal with her husband, Alan.
俱樂部中那位不知疲倦的秘書特里西亞·菲利，她正和丈夫艾倫坐在家里吃麥片粥。
"Trish," Williams said. "We've been burgled!"
“崔西，”威廉姆斯說。“我們被偷了！”
