Photos

The Snowdon Mountain Railway was constructed between December 1894 and February 1896 at a cost of £76000.It starts at Llanberis at 107.6m (353ft)above sea level and runs to the Summit Station at 1065m (3493ft)some 20m(66ft) below the summit. The summit of Snowdon at 1085m (3560ft) is the highest peak in England and Wales.
The rack and pinion system used by the railway was patented by a Swiss engineer Dr Roman Abt. It 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 needed by the trains to climb the steepest inclines. On the way down the rack and pinion system also acts as a brake.
The railway is single track with three passing loops spaced at equal distances between Llanberis and the Summit - Hebron at 326m; Halfway at 500m and Clogwyn at 779m. The average speed of the train is 5mph (8kph)
The total length of the railway is 7.53km (4mls 1188yds)with an average gradient of 1 in 7.86. These gradients make it impossible for normal adhesion railways to operate. The steepest gradient is 1 in 5.5. This railway is the only public rack and pinion railway in the Bristish Isles.

4 coal powered steam lcoomotives are operated by the company - 3 of which are original engines dating from 1895 and 1896 whilst the remaing one was built on 1922. They are named Enid; Wyddfa (welsh for Snowdon); Snowdon and Padarn .
The boilers are inclined on the locomotives to ensure that the boiler tubes and firebox remain submerged when on a 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 train in the photo is therefore on its way up the mountain.)
There are also 4 diesel locomotives namely Ninian; Yeti; Peris and George all built between 1986 and 1992. To complete the line up there are also three diesel electric locomotives built in 1985 . Each unit is capable of being coupled to other units for multiple unit operation.

Each carriage can carry a maximum of 54 passengers plus a guard. Every passenger carriage has its own set of pinions and an automatic brake. Should the train's speed exceed 7.5mph fpr any reason the brake comes on.
A traffic controller at Llanberis controls the overall movement of trains. Communication between the base at Llanberis, Clogwyn Station, the Summit and the guard is by means of two way radio.

Photo scanned from slide - resized ,sharpened and a little colour saturation added.