Train buffs say they have struck gold by finding steel.

Wallingford stationmaster and board member of the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway Preservation Society, Denis Strange, said it took just 10 minutes with a metal detector to prove what the society had claimed all along that an area near the station was 'railway land', meaning they would have been able to erect buildings such as a new station hall and build platforms without planning permission.

But South Oxford District Council disagreed, and the society ran up legal bills of thousands of pounds during the four-year dispute.

Mr Strange, pictured with part of the buried track, said: "I asked a friend if I could borrow his metal detector and within 10 minutes we had found evidence of railway sidings and tracks, something the planners said never existed at that point. With the metal detector we struck gold.

"Now we will go to the district council with this new evidence and move forward from there."

Adrian Duffield, head of planning at the district council, said: "This is a very interesting development. We will study it carefully and discuss the matter with the railway society."

of=Helvetica s=6Picture: Steve Wheeler Order No. 050506436 And if they had done it four years ago it would have saved them thousands of pounds in legal fees.

Ten minutes with a metal detector found them evidence which would have solved a dispute with South Oxfordshire District Council which has run for four years.

In that time the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway Preservation Society has shelled out on fees for two barristers over the dispute and now faces a bill of around £10,000 over a planning appeal which was dropped at the eleventh hour.

And on top of that, members found a photograph in Wallingford Museum which would also have answered the questions surrounding the railway's future development.

Wallingford stationmaster and society board member Denis Strange, pictured with part of the buried track, said: "It is all very frustrating.

"I asked a friend if I could borrow his metal detector and within 10 minutes we had found evidence of railway sidings and tracks, something the planners said never existed at that point.

"If we had done this four years ago things would have been very different and a lot less costly."

The society, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, always claimed there were tracks and sidings near the station where the trains running to the former Pauls (ok) Malt site used to manoeuvre.

Proof would have meant the society could have put up buildings like a new station hall and platforms without planning permission because it was still legally railway land.

But South Oxfordshire District Council disputed it and the society appealed against the decision.

The society went to two barristers who gave differing opinions over whether it had a viable case.

The society withdrew the appeal at the last minute and now the planning inspectorate has ruled that the district council can claim costs for the work which went into preparing the aborted appeal.

Mr Strange said: "With the metal detector we struck gold by finding steel tracks and equipment under what is now a road.

"And added to that, we found in Wallingford Museum a photograph showing the sidings just where we said they used to be.

"Now we will go to the district council with this new evidence and move forward from there."

Adrian Duffield, head of planning at the district council, said: "This is a very interesting development.

"We will study it carefully and discuss the matter with the railway society."