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The triangular pyramid in the upper center of the photo is Snowdon. It doesn't look very spectacular in this photo, but the summit is the highest point in England and Wales at 3560 feet (1085m) above seal level. The easiest way to reach the top is to take the train. The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a cog or rack railway thathas been running from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon since 1896. These photos of the railway journey to the top were taken during a visit in July 2005 with a 9 Fuji Finepix A205 2.0 megapixel digital camera and were corrected and cropped in Picasa 2 and ACDSee. The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a cog railway that runs several times each day from mid March through early November weather permitting from Llanberis station pictured here to the summit of Mount Snowdon in Wales. Seats must usually be booked in advance in the busy summer months. You can also hike to the summit along a straightforward footpath that meanders near the railway track and it's possible to ride the train one way and walk the other. The engines used on the Snowdon railway are either Hunslet diesel or coal burning steam engines. The center cog rail allows the engine traction on the steeper grades and during icy weather. The engine driving along using a cog wheel on the center rail is a rhythmic sound that becomes familiar as you ascend to the summit. The passenger car is always on the uphill end of the engine to avoid the possibility of a runaway. The railway climbs steeply from Llanberis and is soon above the tree line as the woods give way to sheep pasture. The scenery is bucolic and kept green year round by the frequent rain showers caused by moisture from the Irish Sea condensing on the high mountains of North Wales. The scenery becomes slowly more rugged and trees gradually disappear as the elevation increases. Many dry stone walls built over the centuries partition the landscape. North Wales was covered in ice during the last ice age and the mountains have been worn down by glaciers to form characteristic smooth U-shaped valleys between the peaks. The smoothness allows the railway to run straight at a fairly continuous grade for long stretches. The footpath to the summit runs alongside the railway and the two cross each other several times. The slopes off to the sides become steeper and the vistas more expansive the higher the railway goes. On this day the summit was in clouds so the spectacluar views had to wait for another time. The toposcope at the very summit of Snowdon gives directions and distances for many places visible during fine weather. The route runs close by some steep cliffs that might be dangerous for walkers in poor visibility although if they stay on the paved footpath they will avoid these. Sometimes the sun finds a gap in the clouds and gives a spectacular show. The trains run up and down simultaneously and since there is only one track, they have to pass only at special passing loops. This one is about halfway to the top. Here the train running down the mountain waits in the passing loop for the one coming up to meet it. Trains run as frequently as every 30 minutes during July and August with the first leaving Llanberis at 9am and the last leaving the summit at 5pm. The up and downhill trains meet halfway to pass each other in a short section of twin tracks. The railway runs through beautiful scenery including this waterfall just above Llanberis. Here is the coal yard for the steam engine that still is used on some runs. The driving cog mechanism used by the engines consists of dual alternate-toothed cogs for better grip - the cog cannot disengage from the rack in the way a single cog wheel might. |
