Quezi

The early stages of the journey on the Snowdon Mountain Railway (photo by Nigel Cliff CC-BY)

Britain’s highest railway climbs up to the top of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) in Snowdonia, North Wales. The mountain is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) high. Since the early 19th century, the mountain has been a popular tourist destination, and by 1847 a small collection of wooden huts were built on the summit to serve as hotels, albeit, offering very basic services.

In the 1890s, the Snowdon Mountain Tramroad and Hotels Company, now known as Snowdonia Mountain Railway Co., built a track to the summit and the first train reached the top of the mountain in 1896.

It is a narrow gauge railway (2ft 7 1/2 in) which operates a rack and pinion system which gives the engine additional grip on the rails and also acts as a brake, this is the only one of its type in public use in the UK. Each truck also has a separate braking system should they become separated from the engine. The company still uses three of the original trains, with a 1922 addition.

While the railway is operating successfully, the buildings at the top have not fared so well. The wooden hotels suffered badly in the extreme weather on the summit, and were demolished in 1935 to make way for a building which had large panoramic windows to give views of the surrounding mountains. Within 6 months these were blown to smithereens during a storm. The building was repaired and altered on several occasions, but was still in bad state of repair. So much so that while on a visit, the Prince of Wales described it as “the highest slum in Wales”.

All this is now changing, the railway is being used to ferry materials and men to the top where a new visitors’ centre is under construction. It is due to open this spring, but the bad weather this year has caused a great deal of difficulty with heavy rain, strong winds, snow and exposure. The timetable is very tight.

There was considerable debate as to whether any form of building should be on the summit, but finally the decision was that one would be built, but as sensitive as possible to the landscape.

The new building is called Hafod Eryri, which means summer residence (Hafod) in Snowdonia (Eryri). This also has large glass windows, but it is hoped that glass technology has moved forward enough so the glass can with stand the weather. The building is designed to withstand winds over 150mph, over 5 metres of rain and temperatures of -20°C  (excluding wind chill).

It is anticipated that over 400,000 people will visit Snowdon this year.