Originally built in 1961 as ‘Sylvia’, a large petrol-hydraulic locomotive for the 15” gauge Fairbourne Railway, a major rebuild took place in 1984, transforming ‘Sylvia’ into ‘Lillian Walter’ – along with regauging to 12.25” to suit the upcoming gauge change at Fairbourne.
Lillian Walter saw use on the regauged railway until being withdrawn for overhaul in 2009, reappearing as ‘Tony’ in 2012 with new bodywork inspired by the original ‘Sylvia’ shape. Renaming was in recognition of Tony Atkinson, long term benefactor and Director of the railway who had recently passed away.
After further service at Fairbourne, Tony was ultimately withdrawn from service in 2021 after attempts to cure the long term issues with the complex transmission set up proved beyond the means available.
An agreement was reached in early 2025 to use the redundant twindisc powershift transmission from RLR diesel locomotive Graham Alexander, (recently converted to battery electric) to cure the transmission issues once and for all with Tony. The work has been carried out by Littlehampton Miniature Railway Chief Engineer Tom Sanders, also a long term Fairbourne & Ruislip volunteer.
What started as a ‘simple’ job to install the ex RLR transmission has turned into a full mechanical overhaul from top to bottom, along with significant cosmetic work on the bodywork and a full repaint into Sylvia inspired livery.
This marks an exciting chapter in the story of Tony, and a fantastic story of collaboration between railways. The unmeasurable time and effort put into the project by Tom is hard to put in to words – a quite incredible achievement that hopefully can be recognised in the superb finished locomotive.
To donate to the Tony Project, please visit our dedicated donation link.