 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) |
| Snowdon Mountain Railway Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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.jpg) Snowdon Mountain Railway in June 2012 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Owner | Heritage Great Britain[1] | ||
| Locale | Gwynedd | ||
| Termini | |||
| Service | |||
| Type | Rack-and-pinion mountain railway | ||
| Operator(s) | Heritage Great Britain | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 6 April 1896 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 4 mi 55 ch (7.5 km)[2] | ||
| Number of tracks | Single track with passing loops | ||
| Rack system | Abt[3] | ||
| Track gauge | 800 mm (2 ft 7+1⁄2 in) | ||
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The Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR; Welsh: 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 miles (7.6 km) from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales.[4] A return journey, including the stop at the summit, takes 2½ hours.[5]
The SMR is the only public rack-and-pinion railway in the United Kingdom,[6] and after more than 100 years of operation it remains a popular tourist attraction, carrying more than 140,000 passengers annually.[7] The line is owned and operated by Heritage Great Britain,[8] 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.
- ^ "Welcome to Heritage Great Britain PLC". heritagegb.co.uk. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- ^ Yonge, Padgett & Szwenk 2013, Map 51G.
- ^ "Snowdon Mountain Railway history". snowdonrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ^ Tourist Attractions in Snowdonia Wales – Visit Snowdon Mountain Railway!, archived from the original on 15 April 2003
- ^ "Plan your visit - Times & Prices - How to Find Us - FAQs". Snowdon Mountain Railway.
- ^ Snowdon Mountain Railway on AboutBritain.com
- ^ "Evaluation of Tourism Attractor Destinations: interim report". gov.wales. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
- ^ Heritage Great Britain plc