Snowdon Mountain Railway
The Snowdon Mountain Railway is one of the great engineering achievements of Victorian Britain, a narrow-gauge rack and pinion railway that climbs from the town of Llanberis at 105 metres above sea level to the summit of Snowdon at 1,085 metres, a journey of nine kilometres along a route of spectacular scenery that makes it one of the most dramatic mountain railway experiences in the world. The railway has been carrying passengers to the highest summit in England and Wales since it opened in 1896 and remains the only public rack and pinion railway in the British Isles. The rack and pinion system, which uses a toothed central rail engaged by a matching pinion on the locomotive to prevent slipping on the steep gradients, was essential for a railway that climbs at gradients of up to 1 in 5.5 on the upper sections. The technology used at Snowdon is the Abt system, developed by a Swiss engineer and first used in the 1880s, which uses a pair of interlocking rack rails with teeth offset to provide smooth and continuous engagement. The engineering solution allows trains to operate safely on gradients that would defeat any conventional adhesion railway. The opening journey was marred when the first locomotive came off the rails near the summit on the way back down, killing one passenger and injuring others. The investigation that followed identified operator error rather than engineering failure, and the railway was reopened with improved operating procedures within a few months. In the 127 years since then the railway has maintained an exemplary safety record. The journey takes approximately an hour in each direction and the views throughout are exceptional. The line passes through moorland, above the shores of Llyn Padarn, across dramatic cliff-edge sections and through the final switchback approach to the summit. On clear days the view from the top extends across North Wales, into England, south to Pembrokeshire and across the Irish Sea to Ireland and the Isle of Man. The Hafod Eryri summit visitor centre, opened in 2009, provides café facilities and interpretive displays at the top. The railway operates services from March to November, with early and late season services dependent on weather conditions. Steam locomotive services operate alongside modern diesel locomotives throughout the season, providing a choice of historic and modern traction.