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Rack & pinion railway to the top of Snowdon in Wales

The Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR; Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa) is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Gwynedd, north west Wales. It is a tourist railway that travels for 4.7 mile (8 km) from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales. The SMR is the only public rack and pinion railway in the United Kingdom, and after more than 100 years of operation it remains a popular tourist attraction, carrying more than 140,000 passengers annually. The line is owned and operated by Heritage Great Britain, operators of several other tourist attractions in the United Kingdom. The railway is operated in some of the harshest weather conditions in Britain, with services curtailed from reaching the summit in bad weather and remaining closed during the winter from November to mid March. Single carriage trains are pushed up the mountain by either steam locomotives or diesel locomotives. It has also previously used diesel railcars as multiple units. The traditional logo for the railway includes a pinion ring engaged on a rack bar, representing the rack railway technology used by the line.

The railway was officially opened on Monday 6 April 1896, and two trains were dispatched to the summit. On the first return trip down the mountain, possibly due to the weight of the train, locomotive No. 1 Ladas with two carriages lost the rack and ran out of control. The locomotive derailed and fell down the mountain. A passenger died from loss of blood after jumping from the carriage. After a miscommunication the second downward train hit the carriages of the first, with no fatalities. An inquiry concluded that the accident had been triggered by post construction settlement, compounded by excess speed due to the weight of the train. As a result of the inquiry's recommendations the maximum allowed train weight was reduced to the equivalent of 1½ carriages, leading to lighter carriages being bought and used on two carriage trains. A gripper system was also installed on the rack railway.

The railway reopened to Hebron on Saturday 26 September 1896. On 9 April 1897 the line re opened to Clogwyn. By June the trains were again reaching the summit. This time there were no incidents and the train service continued. On 30 July 1906 a wagon broke loose and ran into a train, injuring one passenger, the driver and guard. Traffic was suspended for several hours. In 1910 there were reports of vandalism on the line. A man named William Morris Griffiths who had climbed Snowdon to see the sunrise, placed a stone on the rail and sitting on it, slid down the track at speed. Someone put a boulder on the line behind him and pushed it down, and it struck Griffiths in the back, he somersaulted off the line and died a few hours later. The manager of the railway also reported that crowds of visitors were breaking down fences, pulling up gradient posts, throwing down wires and interfering with the railway bed. In 1936 it was reported that the railway carried 30,000 people to the summit during the season. Passengers were still carried during the Second World War. The Western Mail for 12 May 1943 reported that two trains per day would operate from Llanberis (at 1.15pm and 4.00pm) and people could still book to stay at the summit hotel. However, this appears to have been just propaganda, as the summit was closed for military purposes from 1942 until the end of the war.

Normal service resumed in 1946. The shortage of coal led to the railway attempting to burn old army boots as fuel. The British Railways Llanberis–Caernarvon line closed to passengers in 1962. In 1983, the summit buildings were transferred to the ownership of Gwynedd County Council. A share issue was made in 1985, primarily to raise money to purchase the first two diesel locomotives. Between 1986 and 1992 the railway company was involved with the airfield and aviation museum in Caernarvon.

As part of the centenary celebrations the railway held an enthusiasts' weekend in September 1996. This was one of the few occasions when the public were allowed to visit the railway's workshops. Scrap pinion rings were also sold as (rather large) souvenirs. From this time the locomotives were painted in differing liveries, but by 2005 this practice had ended.

In 2006 the Snowdon summit cafe was demolished and construction of a new visitor centre was started. While this construction was taking place passenger trains terminated at Clogwyn, but the line and a works train was still used to transport workers and materials to the project. On some days, however, the train could not reach the summit and the workers had to walk down to Rocky Valley. was officially opened by First Minister Rhodri Morgan on 12 June 2009.

In 2015, after the coastguard rescue helicopter was unable to reach the summit, the railway was used to carry mountain rescue teams to the summit of Snowdon to rescue a 17 year old girl who had collapsed due to an asthma attack while sheltering from wind gusting up to The railway was then used to carry the girl and rescuers to the foot of the mountain, where she was transferred to an ambulance.

The lowland terminus is Llanberis station, at the side of the main road, a short walk from the site of the Llanberis terminus station of the railway from Caernarvon which closed in 1962. The railway is a single track line with passing loops. It is 4 mile (6 km) long, with an average gradient of 1 in 7.86 (12.7%). The steepest gradient is 1 in 5.5 (18.2%), and this occurs in a number of places. The railway rises a total of 3140 feet (957 m), from 353 feet (108 m) above sea level at Llanberis to 3493 feet (1065 m) at Summit station. Station nameLatitude/longitudeAltitudeNotes+List of stationsLlanberis 353 feet (108 m) Has two platforms. The first stretch of line is uphill at 1 in 50, steep for a main line but shallow compared with the 1 in 6 incline that begins shortly afterwards. Waterfall 580 feet (177 m) Now closed, but the station building remains. It was built to allow visitors to use the train to travel to a spectacular waterfall close to the line. A short distance from Waterfall station is a bridge over the river and a gate. This marks the start of the mountain. Hebron 1069 feet (326 m) Named after the nearby 'Hebron' Chapel. It had originally been hoped that agricultural traffic could be carried to and from this station. Halfway 1641 feet (500 m) As the name suggests, halfway along the line and close to the 'Halfway House' on the nearby footpath. A short distance above the station is a path that leads down to the Halfway House cafe. Rocky Valley Halt 2330 feet (710 m) Consists of a narrow platform sheltered by a rocky outcrop to the east. Immediately beyond the platform the line joins the exposed ridge on which it runs for about Clogwyn 2556 feet (779 m) Located on the exposed ridge and overlooks the Llanberis Pass and the Clogwyn Du'r Arddu cliffs, a popular climbing spot. Summit 3493 feet (1065 m) Only 68 feet (21 m) below the summit, which is at 3560 feet (1085 m). The station has two platforms that link directly to the summit building and to a path to the summit.

The Llanberis complex also houses the company offices, locomotive shed and workshop building. The forecourt has recently been changed from a visitor car park into a café and picnic area.

Traffic and train movements are controlled from Llanberis: communication between Llanberis, Clogwyn and the Summit, as well as to trains' guards, is by two way radio. The line has three passing loops, around 15 minutes travelling time apart. Going up the mountain, these are at Hebron, Halfway and Clogwyn stations. The operation of the Hebron and Halfway loops was converted to semi automatic operation in the early 1990s. The Clogwyn loop is still staffed and retains the original mechanical point levers. Waterfall station had a siding but never a loop, and has been closed for many years. All three passing loop tracks are on the southwest side of the main running line – this is in general the downhill side, where the mountain slopes away from the line. This means that, if required, the line could be easily be converted to double track without the need to cut into the rock face to widen the formation. Including stops at the passing loops, the train takes an hour to climb to the summit and an hour to descend again, at an average speed of around
Passenger trains normally run from Llanberis to the Summit. The wind speed is measured at Clogwyn Station and used to determine if trains can continue to the summit. Trains terminate at Rocky Valley Halt when the weather is too bad to allow them to proceed safely to the summit. It is possible for two trains to run together on sight, which involves the second train following shortly (more than two minutes but less than five) after the first, and keeping a safe distance throughout the journey. This is known as a "doubler". All platforms and passing loops are long enough to accommodate two trains. The two Llanberis platforms are dedicated, one for arrivals and the other for departures. Arriving trains empty of passengers then shunt to the other platform. At the Summit station arriving trains generally alternate between the two platforms. When steam and diesel trains run together, it is normal for the diesel to lead up the mountain. This allows the steam train to enter the departure platform and load at its leisure, while the diesel moves across from the arrival platform from a quick turn around. Locomotives spend the whole day with the same carriage. Any locomotive can work with any carriage, although carriage No. 10 (the most modern) until 2012 usually ran with a diesel locomotive. In 2013 four new carriages, which seat 74 passengers instead of 56 (as in the old ones), entered service. They work together with the four diesel locomotives and thus form four identical trains.

The line is built to 800 mm gauge ( gauge), a gauge it has in common with several rack railways in Switzerland. The rails are fastened to steel sleepers. The line uses the Abt rack system devised by Roman Abt, a Swiss locomotive engineer. The system comprises a length of toothed rail (the rack) between the running rails which meshes with a toothed wheel (the pinion) mounted on each rail vehicle's driving axle. These pinions provide all the traction and braking effort, and the vehicle's wheels are free to revolve on the drive axles and serve only for support and guidance.

For safety, train formations consist of one locomotive pushing a single carriage up the mountain and leading it down again while the locomotive brakes allow a controlled descent. (On opening, the usual practice was to have a locomotive pushing two coaches; this was changed in 1923.)

No Name Built Manu. no. Type Wheel Arrangement Status Notes1Ladas1895923 Steam locomotive Scrapped Named after Laura Alice Duff Assheton Smith, wife of the major landowner in the area. It arrived at Llanberis in July 1895 and cost £1523. A race horse was also named Ladas (after a Greek messenger) and it is after the race horse that the LNER locomotive No. 2566 was named. This is the same Alice as the class of small Hunslet quarry engines. Destroyed in an accident on the railway's opening day and was broken up for spare parts.2Enid1895924 Out of Service
Named after Laura Alice's daughter, who cut the first sod in December 1894 in place of her mother, who was ill at the time. It arrived at Llanberis in August 1895 and cost £1,525.15Moel Eilio2020 21 —1995 Diesel electric railcar Scrapped Withdrawn from use 2001, taken away for scrap July 201022 —1995 ScrappedWithdrawn from use 2003, taken away for scrap July 201023 —1995 Scrapped

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. The water gauges (gauge glasses) are mounted half at the centre on the locomotive so that the water level does not change with the gradient. One result of the boiler's angle is that the firehole door is at waist height, requiring the fireman to lift the coal some distance. The boiler is not superheated. Water is carried in tanks that run the full length of the boiler, but not all this water is for use in the boiler. The tanks are in fact divided into two sections, the smaller front section holding water that is used for cooling when the engine is running downhill. The drive to the wheels is through a series of levers that allow the pistons to have a longer stroke than the cranks. This is another common feature in mountain railways.

The boilers of these engines are fitted with superheaters, making them more efficient, and in place of a lever type regulator they have a wheel that must be turned 2 1/4 times between closed and fully open. The drive from the cylinders and to the wheels again uses levers, but in a different pattern. The linkage is fitted within double frames at the front of the locomotive. This results in a locomotive that is far more rigid. The side tanks are arranged vertically just in front of the cab. No. 6 carries the same amount of water as the earlier engines, but Nos. 7 and 8 carry enough water to get to the top of the mountain without stopping, if required. There is no separate tank for cooling water as it is drawn from the boiler on these engines.

The design specifically includes features for safety, reliability and appearance. In place of cardan shaft drives to the wheels, coupling rods were used to give people something to watch and engine covers were omitted to give a good view of the Rolls Royce diesel engines. The full length canopy above the engine covers not only adds to the distinctive outline but also supports the exhaust silencer. For added safety with only one man in the cab, a dead man device is included, a pedal that when released triggers the braking system to bring the train safely to a halt. The turbocharged six cylinder engine is rated at and drives through a hydraulic transmission that has only one drive ratio. The result is a locomotive that accelerates quickly up to speed. All four locomotives were rebuilt in 2012–13 in readiness for the launch of the new "traditional diesel" service.

The railcars were diesel electric, using a standard industrial generator set mounted at the downhill end of each vehicle. This powered an induction motor through electronic controllers. The generators had a Cummins engine rated at which was run at a constant 1800 rpm and produced 440 V AC at 60 Hz. Unlike any other train on the system, the driver sat at the front when climbing the mountain. For safety reasons the railcars could not be run as single vehicles since they each had only one set of pinions. No. 21 had to be taken out of service by 2001 owing to problems with the speed control mechanism, and Nos. 22 and 23 were taken out of service in 2003 for the same reason. The railcars were finally taken away for scrap in July 2010.

On 13 August 2019, the railway announced that it had ordered two new battery diesel hybrid locomotives from Clayton Equipment for introduction at the start of the railway's 2020 season, at a cost of £1.1 million. The intention was that the diesel generator on the new locomotives would be switched off on the downhill runs, with regenerative service braking used to recharge the battery to provide power for the next ascent. This method of operation meant that the locomotives' engines, which comply with Euro V emission standards, could be less powerful than those on the existing locomotives, thus providing maintenance and fuel savings, quieter operation, and lower emissions. It was announced in February 2020 that the new locomotives were due to enter passenger service in May 2020. However, the launch was delayed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. was commissioned to build four brand new coaches for the 2013 season which are used exclusively with the diesel locomotives. These coaches can transport 74 passengers. The coaches have been named: Sir David Brailsford CBE, Bryn Terfel CBE, Katherine Jenkins OBE and Dame Shirley Bassey, the last of these being named on 17 May 2018 at a ceremony attended by the singer.

A new body was built on the original frames and bogies of Coach 2 by Garmendale Engineering Ltd to resemble an original coach from 1895. Named the Snowdon Lily, the coach entered service in 2013. This coach only carries 34 passengers and has a central aisle. It is used exclusively with one of the operational steam locomotives and attracts a higher fare. The steam service proved successful and a second heritage coach was built, using the frames and bogies of Coach 5. The Snowdon Mountain Goat arrived at the railway on 15 April 2015 and entered service following running in trials.

None of the contemporary reports on the railway refer to liveries but in coloured picture postcards and lantern slides the locomotives appear to be black. Red lining was introduced in 1933. On the back of a photograph of No 2 taken in 1942, the photographer noted that it was painted green; and colour transparencies taken in the 1950s show them in dark green. A lighter pea green was introduced in 1960. From 1995 until 2000 they were painted in a variety of colours according to crew preference. From 2000 a standard green livery was adopted. Originally, the carriages were open bodied and were probably a dark brown in colour. They were painted red, grey, green and orange in the 1930s. After the 1939 45 war the carriage bodies were enclosed, one at a time, on a platform at Llanberis. Originally painted brown, a livery of crimson and cream was introduced in 1960. Until 1998 the diesels were an overall mid green colour. It was decided that the warning colour on the coupling section would be striped red and white, with the crank axles an overall red colour. The diesels' colouring was later changed: Yeti, for example, adopted a red livery, and George a purple one. The warning colours also changed several times until around 2004, when all the diesels again received a green livery, with yellow and black warning colours. Painted green from 2000, they were painted black from 2013.

The public opening was on Monday 6 April 1896. A train was run from Llanberis to the summit to check that no more boulders had come loose; it is thought the locomotive was No. 2 Enid. On its return to Llanberis, locomotive No. 1 Ladas departed with two carriages on the official first train. Shortly afterwards, No. 2 Enid departed with a second public train. All went well on the ascent, except that mist and cloud was covering the top of the mountain and extending down to about the level of Clogwyn Station. At a little after noon, Ladas with the two carriages started back down the mountain. About above Clogwyn, where the line runs on a shelf formed across a steep drop, the locomotive jumped off the rack rail, losing all braking force and accelerating down the track. At first it remained on the running rail and the driver tried to apply the handbrake, but with no effect. Realising that the train was out of control, the driver and his fireman jumped from the footplate. Ladas ran about after losing the rack rail before hitting a left hand curve. Here it derailed and fell over the side of the mountain. The two carriages accelerated to a speed at which the automatic brakes were triggered These brakes brought both carriages to a stand safely. One of the passengers, Ellis Griffith Roberts of Llanberis, on seeing the driver and fireman jump from the locomotive, did likewise. Falling to the ground, he sustained a serious injury to his leg, which later had to be amputated, and he died.

In derailing, locomotive No. 1 had broken the telegraph lines used to signal between stations. Some versions say that the wires had touched as they were hit and made a signal that was mistaken for the 'line clear' signal, while other versions say that so long a time had passed that the people at the summit assumed that the telegraph system had failed. Whichever is true, the other train left the summit on its descent. In spite of the line speed and a man being sent back up the line to warn the second train, it did not stop before reaching the point where No.1 had lost the rack rail; exactly the same thing happened, with No. 2 losing the rack rail and accelerating out of control. This time, however, the line was blocked by the carriages of the first train; No. 2 hit these with some force, causing the carriages of the first train to drag their brakes and run away down the line, and causing the locomotive to drop back onto the rack rail and stop safely. The carriages from the first train rolled down the line to Clogwyn station, where they became derailed. Locomotive No. 1 was recovered and taken back to Llanberis.

It was revealed during the inquiry that the locomotive on a ballast train had lost the rack in January 1895 a little lower down the line. Details are not recorded, but it is likely that the locomotive dropped back onto the rack and was not badly damaged. After hearing all the evidence, it was decided that the weather had caused a freeze–thaw action which had led to settlement in the ground. Another contributory factor was the construction work being carried out during poor weather, and then not being checked for settlement when the weather had improved. The settlement was sufficient to twist the tracks and reduce the contact between the rack (on the track) and the pinion (on the locomotive). The weight and speed of the train did the rest. The damage caused by the first derailment made the second almost inevitable.

The first recommendation was that the maximum load for the locomotives be reduced to the equivalent of 1 1/2 carriages. These led to a further carriage being bought that was smaller and lighter than the others. From then onward, only this carriage was used, with one of the originals, for two carriage trains. The second recommendation was that a gripper system be installed (see Gripper rail). This required extra rails to be added to the rack rail and a mechanism to be fitted to the locomotives and carriages.

The SMR was the inspiration for the fictional Culdee Fell Railway, appearing in the book Mountain Engines, part of The Railway Series written by Reverend W. Awdry.