My name is Tony Willmore and I live here in North Wales with my wife Ruth (who designed this superb web site!) and our three cats Domino, Chess and Scrabble.
I have been a railway enthusiast since I was a small child and soon became a typical schoolboy trainspotter. In the early 1970s I became a member of the Brambleton Model Railway Club in Harpenden, and their extensive O-gauge layout gave me my first taste of large-scale outdoor model railways. After starting full-time employment in 1975 I became a keen railway photographer, and this interest continues on a much reduced scale to this day.
In 1980 I started working as a volunteer at the Severn Valley Railway, where I was involved with the maintenance of the two Class 52 "Western" diesels and the painting of various steam and diesel locomotives. In 1988 I was introduced to the delights of 16mm scale garden railways when I also became involved with The Paddock Railway at Hampton Loade station.
I started volunteering at the Ffestiniog Railway in 1996 where I qualified as a fireman and then as a driver on both the Ffestiniog and the Welsh Highland Railway (Caernarfon). I was heavily involved with the overhauls of Linda and Prince in the 1990s, took a leading role in the repaints of Linda (1996, 2001), Mountaineer (1998), Prince (2000) and Merddin Emrys (2005), and I was chairman of the Lilla Locomotive Group from its inception until 2007.
After 30 years in the computer industry I decided that a change of career and scenery was needed and so I moved to North Wales in 2002. A not-to-be-refused opportunity soon caused my garden railways hobby to become my full-time job.
My enthusiasm for both the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways started to wain in 2006 following a number of changes that I could not support. Sadly, my involvement with both railways came to a complete end in 2007.
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