5297 - 'Fido” 20/35HP

MR.5297 ‘Fido’ was built in 1931 and is powered by a petrol Dorman 4MRX engine. This is unusual as most were converted to diesel engines over their working lives, it is thought to be one of three left that still retains its original engine.

MR.5297 was ordered on 7th April 1931 by Surrey County Council for the River Wey Navigation Joint Improvements Scheme. In 1934 the council disposed of the loco and it was sold to Messrs Thomas Patterson for use at the Weydon Lane Sand Pits in Farnham. At an unknown date it was moved to their Nursing Mill Gravel Pits near Southampton. In 1955 MR. 5297 was sold to Coats Bros, who used it at the Giles Lane Sand and Gravel Pit near Plaitford, Hampshire. The locomotive was laid aside in 1956.

MR. 5297 entered preservation in 1973 when it was sold to the Island Narrow Gauge Group on the Isle of Wight at Albany. When the scheme fell through the locomotive was acquried by the Fido group. MR.5297 was named after the Fido group as it was thought it would be the first locomotive the group would return to working condition. In 1976 Fido moved to the Great Bush Railway in Hadlow Down, Sussex. In 1977 it was sold to Ian Jolly and moved to Mold, North Wales. In 1980 Fido was sold again, this time to Peter Smith of Rustington, Sussex. In 1983 the locomotive was sold to the Old Kiln Light Railway, where it has remained ever since.

This locomotive is of local interest as it worked at the Weydon Lane sand pits in the nearby town of Farnham. The restoration of Fido has slowly progressed over the years, but it is hoped that one day Fido will run again.