Missing child mannequin found on train holding a can of cider

A creepy mannequin of a child has been found on a train carriage holding a can of cider.

The dummy World War II evacuee, named Annie, vanished from her usual spot next to her mother at Blue Anchor station during a railway gala in Somerset.

She was later found in a carriage at Minehead station with the Thatchers Haze in hand.

Blue Anchor’s station master, Robin Whichard, said: ‘She seems absolutely unfazed by her condition and mum doesn’t seem to have noticed, so no harm done.’

The mannequins had previously been on display at the STEAM museum in Swindon, Wiltshire, but were ‘evacuated’ to the station last year.

The museum thinks Annie was taken by a ‘group of lads’ on a stag do, who managed to sneak her out without being spotted during the railway’s ‘very busy’ Diesel Gala.

But while Annie is a beloved part of the furniture at the station, staff hadn’t noticed she was gone until she showed up, can in hand, five miles away.

‘We didn’t know anything about it until we got a call from staff at Minehead station asking if we’d mislaid Annie,’ said Whichard.

‘Because she’d turned up in a carriage with a can of cider in her hand.’

He added that seeing Annie there had given staff a shock. ‘Given her inebriated state, they put her in a wheelchair and delivered her back on the next train.’

‘We’re glad to have her back even if we didn’t realise she had gone,’ Whichard added.

The Diesel Gala sees the station run a busy schedule featuring a number of steam locomotives every summer, and this year ran from June 4 to 7.

The trains cover a 20-mile route, taking in museums and model railway displays along the way.