Snowdon Mountain Railway
A train at Llanberis station
One of the trains that climb from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon
The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Wales. The line was opened as a tourist railway in 1896, and travels for 7.5 km (just under 5 miles) from the base station at Llanberis (at 108 metres/353 feet above sea level), to the summit station at 1065 metres (3493 feet). This is only 20 metres below the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in England and Wales, at 1085 metres (3560 feet).
It is the only rack and pinion railway in the British Isles, uses the Abt rack system, and has a track gauge common to most mountain railways of 2 ft 7½ inches (800 mm). It is operated by both steam and diesel locomotives. The railway uses double rack rails, fastened to steel sleepers between the running rails. Each locomotive is equipped with toothed pinions (cogwheels), which engage the rack and provide all the traction necessary to scale the steepest inclines. On the way down, the rack and pinion system also acts as a brake. The railway, laid to a gauge of 2ft 7 1⁄2 in (800 mm) which is common to most mountain railways, consists of a single track with 3 passing loops spaced equidistantly between Llanberis and the Summit. (Hebron at 1069 ft (326 m), Halfway at 1641 ft (500 m) and Clogwyn at 2556 ft (779 m)). The average speed of the trains is 5 mph (8 kph). The total length of the railway is 4 miles 1188 yards (7.53 km), with an average gradient of 1 in 7.86. The steepest gradient on the route is 1 in 5.5.
The company operates 4 coal-fired steam locomotives manufactured by the Swiss Locomotive & Manufacturing Co. of Winterthur. Three of which are the original ones dating from 1895 and 1896, whilst the remaining one was built in 1922. The first of the original locomotives cost £1525.
The boilers are inclined on the locomotives to ensure that the boiler tubes and the firebox remain submerged when on the gradient, a standard practice on mountain railways. The locomotive always runs chimney first up the mountain pushing a single carriage in front of it. For safety reasons the carriage is not coupled to the locomotive.
The line is a highly popular tourist attraction.
History
The idea was first proposed in 1869, when Llanberis was linked to Caernarfon by the London & North Western Railway. The Llanberis-Caernarfon line closed in the 1960s, but the Snowdon railway kept going, even through both World Wars. Snowdon Mountain Railway was constructed between December 1894 and February 1896 at a total cost of £76,000.