The Snowdon Mountain Railway

The Snowdon Mountain Railway (SMR) is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway located in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The railway is 4.7 miles long; starting in Llanberis and finishing on the summit of Snowdon (the highest peak in wales). The line carries over 140,000 passengers annually and is the only public rack and pinion railway in the united kingdom.

Rack and pinion railways are steep grade railways that use a toothed rack rail that is most commonly found between the running rails. The pinion is a cog wheel that meshes onto the rack rail. A normal friction-based rail can't operate on a gradient of more than 10%, but a rack and pinion can greatly exceed this. The first railway to incorporate a rack and pinion was in 1812; used on the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. The intended use of the Middleton Railway was to transport large amounts of coal up steep gradients. Rack and Pinion are now most commonly found on mountain railways such as the SMR.

The Snowdon Mountain Railway was constructed between December 1894, and February 1896, at a total cost of £63,800 (equivalent to £7,854,000 in 2021). Its original purpose was always to transport tourists up the mountain but became a great resource during the construction of the visitor center, both materials and workers were ferried between the summit and Llanberis. 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 railway has two new hybrid locomotives to help modernise the railway to handle the current-day demand.

A well-known story of the SMR is the opening day incident. This occurred on 6 April 1896 when two trains were duly dispatched for the summit. The ascent was fine but on the way down disaster struck. The first engine, "LADAS," driven by William Pickles from Yorkshire, ran into difficulties a few hundred yards above Clogwyn Station. The load was simply too great and Pickles had great difficulty keeping the engine under control. The wheels jumped the rail, the train thereby losing its ability to brake, and it simply ran away. Pickles applied the handbrake but it did not work. With the train now gathering speed downhill Pickles and the fireman decided that discretion was the better part of valor and leaped off the footplate. The engine continued its descent, going faster every second until, failing to negotiate a left-hand curve, it toppled and fell gracefully over the side of the mountain. Climbers coming up the mountain towards Clogwyn later commented that they thought they saw a huge boulder falling towards them. In fact, it was the runaway engine that was now tumbling down the mountainside. Back on the track things did not get any easier. The two carriages, now minus their engine, also gathered speed until, at last, the automatic brakes slammed on and they came to a graceful halt. Unfortunately, one passenger, a Mr. Ellis Roberts of Llanberis, had witnessed the driver and fireman leap off the engine and, with the carriages in which he sat also out of control, he thought he would do the same. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky as William Pickles. He smashed his head on the rocks and debris alongside the line, being so badly injured that he died a few days later. As if all that was not enough, the second train now appeared on the scene. Weather conditions were poor with mist over the top half of the mountain and there was no way news of the disaster could be sent to the second train. It ploughed into the rear of the carriages at Clogwyn, de-railing the engine and passenger accommodation. Luckily, there were no serious injuries. At the subsequent Inquiry, the cause of the disaster was stated to be settlement of the track and excess speed due to the weight of the engine and its carriages. Weight for all future trains would have to be reduced. It meant ordering lighter carriages and the introduction of a 'gripper' rail system to improve safety. The line up Snowdon was closed for just over 12 months, with no more trains running until 9 April 1897. No further incidents have taken place on the railways since making it one of the safest mountain railways in the world.

The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a must-see when visiting the beautiful country of Wales. My personal recommendation would be to walk the Miners' Track up Snowdon and then take the railway down. Make sure to visit on a day with good weather (a rare occurrence in Wales). The town of Llanberis has many activities to take part in, from slate museums to cycling adventures. Another nearby activity to take part in is Zip World Penrhyn Quarry, a must-do for any thrill seeker. In terms of places to stay, I personally recommend taking on the challenge of camping, especially at "Camping In Llanberis Campsite and Glamping Yurts", they have reasonably good facilities for a campsite.

One of the most modern trains in Britain

When you think of a modern train the first image to pop up in your head is most likely an electric self-driving train that can reach speeds of 200mph; well there's an anomaly that lies in this data. This locomotive was completed in 2008 but still requires a fireman; its name was the "Tornado".

Now A1 Peppercorn Tornado sounds fast, and that's because it is, but this train is in fact a steam engine only reaching an official speed of 100mph. Originally designed in the 1940s, it was meant to be an additional engine for the East Coast Main Line but was never built due to the modernization and dieselisation plans of the 50s. It can pull 15 coaches at slower speeds but on today's modern tracks with faster speeds being able to reach a lesser 10-11 coachers. The Tornado wasn't anything special at the time of initial design but was to be simply an addition to the fleet.

The project was first founded in 1990 by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust in 1990 with the idea for the train to be oil-fired for cost and operational reasons. This oil-fired plan was later scrapped in favour of the original coal firing due to the increase in global fossil fuel prices. The 1940s plans had been scanned by 1993 (with a further 140 scans in 2001) and construction was started in the following year. Changes from the original were necessary to better suit both modern manufacturing techniques, and new rail networks, but a great part of the components had been kept to the original design. The bulk of improvements was ones to meet current safety and operation standards.

The train ran under its own power for the first time on 29 July 2008 at Darlington, and then during the next two years further tests were made and the operation of its first passenger journey. The first mainline trip was in 2009, known as The Peppercorn Pioneer, from York to Newcastle and back. The Tornado now hauls numerous rail tours on main lines all over Britain and also heritage railways. It's a great sight to behold for me and fellow trainspotters mostly due to the historical sight of a monster 1940s locomotive on today's modern rails.

A piece of media to see the Tornado in is an episode of Top Gear, first aired in 2009. The episode shows a race, from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverly. Taking part in the race are the Tornado, a 1949 Jaguar XK120, and the 1949 Vincent Black Shadow (my favorite motorbike). The train, unfortunately, comes second, but the great magnificence of the locomotive is greatly televised with the hairs on the back of my neck standing up each time the Tornado is on screen. Another film that has the Tornado present, is the 2017 Paddington 2 (I can greatly sympathise with the character of Jonathan).

The Tornado is a must-see for anyone that has a great passion, or little interest in trains. The vast amount of work and funding put behind the project has greatly paid off and is greatly appreciated by me, and other train enthusiasts alike, truly amazing!

The Shinkansen - The bullet train

In 1964, Japan unveiled the Shinkansen - a new high-speed railway connecting the country’s two largest cities (in the 1960s), Tokyo and Osaka. Travelling at speeds in excess of 120 mph (200 km/h), the new specially designed Shinkansen trains had the highest service speeds in the world.

The Shinkansen was the first to have dedicated railways built for the speed at which the trains would be traveling. The trains themselves had to be completely re-engineered; a great example of this is the shape of the wheels:

An ordinary train has wheels that are slightly conical shaped. The reason for this is to increase the effective diameter of the wheel as it moves towards the outer rail, and in return avoid sideways displacement. Well, this is great for trains that move at slower speeds but as speed increases so does speed wobble. Speed wobble is when the frame of an object is misaligned and begins to oscillate due to the stronger force; pretty much impossible to avoid, before the Shinkansen. The engineers of Japan came up with a new idea that sounds simple, but in actual fact requires a great deal of engineering, non-conical tubular wheels. These wheels would retain constant contact with the rails but would require larger degrees when turning a corner. The new wheels greatly reduced the effect of speed wobble making them one of the key components for the birth of this revolutionary train.

The new wheels changed the world of trains in many ways as they allowed speeds to be reached that were once only dreamed of. Other revolutionary technologies of the Shinkansen include a system that would shut off the train in the event of an earthquake, and air spring suspension to enable higher speeds on a curved track.

The Japanese helped inspire other countries to develop their own high-speed networks, like France’s TGV which entered service in the early 1980s. The enormous success of the original Shinkansen line spurred the construction of new Shinkansen lines westward. Over the course of the next half-century, the network would be expanded to reach nearly every corner of Japan.