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Snowdon Mountain Railway
A diesel locomotive of the Snowdon Mountain Railway pushing a carriage up the 5 mile journey to the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) during which it will climb 3,000 ft. and take just over the hour. The locomotive is not coupled to the carriage (both have independent braking systems) and the locomotive is always on the 'down' end of the carriage. Since its opening in 1898, (three of its steam locomotives date from then) there has been only fatality when a locomotive jumped the single rack and pinion rail. While it took flight into a valley, the driver and fireman jumped clear. The carriage braked safely to a stop but not before a passenger seeing the driver and fireman bale out followed their example, hitting his head against a rock. An extra rack was installed and carriage doors are now locked during the journey.

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The image and caption on this page are © Denis Egan