Ruislip Lido Railway

Building on from our Facebook post at the end of National Volunteer's Week last week with Kai passing as a Controller, here is the first of a short series of examples of RLR volunteers speaking about how the opportunities available to them at the RLR have helped them develop in their personal and working lives. First off, we have Phil!

The Fairbourne Railway, Littlehampton Miniature Railway, and the Ruislip Lido Railway are excited to announce a joint project to restore the historic Fairbourne locomotive 'Tony' back to use.

Tony was originally built in 1961 as a 15" gauge 4w-4w petrol hydraulic locomotive by G&S Light Engineering as 'Sylvia', one of a number of Trevor Guest locomotives to operate at Fairbourne in the 15" gauge days. Sylvia was rebuilt at Fairbourne in 1984 as a diesel powered loco with significant alterations to the bodywork, and renamed Lilian Walter - before being re-gauged to 12 ¼" gauge in 1985 to suit the upcoming gauge change to 12 ¼” at Fairbourne. Sylvia was later rebuilt as Tony with new bodywork in a style more similar to the original, re-entering service in 2013.

After a period of time out of use, work took place on Tony in 2021, but components in the complicated transmission setup proved to be life expired and replacement was not possible at the time. With the availability of a proven, high quality twin disc powershift transmission ex RLR diesel locomotive Graham Alexander following battery conversion in 2024, a lot of detailed work has taken place to reach an agreement on installing this transmission in Tony, curing the issues once and for all.

Installation of the transmission and other associated refurbishment work will take place at Littlehampton, undertaken primarily by Chief Engineer and Fairbourne volunteer Tom Sanders. Tony made the long trip in early April, with the Littlehampton team wasting no time in stripping the loco down to bare frames. The ex RLR transmission has also made the journey, along with a RLR flat wagon to assist.

Tony will first see a period of testing and running at Littlehampton on completion of the works. Littlehampton will be the first place you can travel behind Tony for the first time in around 10 years. Tony will then remain on loan at Ruislip for 3 years, giving cover for long-term work on the Ruislip diesel fleet

As we come to the end of National Volunteers week, we want to take a moment to recognise our phenomenal team of over 130 active members who keep every part of the Ruislip Lido Railway running!

We are immensely proud to be run entirely by volunteers.

A fitting moment to end the week as, following completion of his training, Kai (pictured below) passed out as a Controller! Kai makes history as our youngest ever Controller.

Are you interested in volunteering, why not drop us a message to find out more about the opportunities available.

Steam dates for June:

- Saturday 7th

- Sunday 8th

- Sunday 15th

- Saturday 21st

- Sunday 22nd

- Saturday 28th

- Sunday 29th

Come and enjoy the sights and sounds of Mad Bess, operating on 7 of the 8 running days this month.

Times and prices can be found here on our website: www.ruisliplidorailway.org/timetable

You can book your tickets now by visiting: https://tickets.ruisliplidorailway.org

We are delighted to announce that we are launching online ticket sales for all our train services.

For travel from 1st June 2025, you will be able to book your tickets in advance - allowing you to plan your day out in advance!

For more information, visit https://tickets.ruisliplidorailway.org

Steam dates for May:

- Sunday 18th

- Sunday 25th

- Monday 26th

- Thursday 29th

Times and prices can be found here on our website: www.ruisliplidorailway.org/timetable

Thank you to RailAdvent for the wonderful photo.

Action from our steam gala last weekend is now available to watch over on the RLR YouTube channel:

Ruislip Lido Railway | 2025 Steam Gala Footage from the Saturday our 2025 Steam Gala which ran over the weekend of the 3rd - 5th May. Resident loco ‘Mad Bess’ was in action as was ‘Christopher’ wh...

What a fantastic steam gala weekend - thank you to everyone who visited. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

*Lots* of photos and videos to come, but in the meantime, a huge thank you to Tom, Ian and all the team at Littlehampton Miniature Railway and Statfold Barn Railway & Museum for sharing their superb locomotives with us and making it a weekend to remember.

A fantastic first day of our steam gala yesterday in glorious weather, followed by a private running evening with lots of 'playing trains' and really making the most of the railway and the wonderful locomotives.

Trains every 15 minutes from 11:00 - 17:00 today and tomorrow, with Mad Bess and superb visiting steam locomotives Christopher and Victoria.

Another amazing day for the RLR, with Victoria arriving on site for our 3 day steam gala. What a beautiful and fascinating locomotive - don't miss out this weekend!