Cute

Bigger Than the Average Dragon – and slightly more blue.

Just look who is waiting patiently in the shop for a new home to go to for Christmas. These two cuties are so adorable and would make a perfect present for anyone, at any time of the year, but imagine finding one in your Christmas stocking or under the tree. Give us a call for more details about these or any other retail items.

Llanberis - Other Places of Interest

This is the signpost outside the front of the Snowdon Mountain Railway shop that shows you just some of the many things that Llanberis has to offer while you are in the area.

When we are busy you may have to wait a while for your train but all these things are within walking distance of the average person and many of them are free.

Dolbadarn Castle, just across the road from us, was built in the early 12^th century and has commanding views across Llyn Padarn and up to Llanberis Pass. It played an important part in the conflicts between Welsh princes and English kings and is also the subject of a painting by J M W Turner.

Winter works

With the trains all tucked up in the background the job of building retaining walls and landscaping continues from where it ended in the spring. It has been really rewarding to see areas of the railway brought back from being somewhat overgrown. Now these areas are being planted with shrubs and spring bulbs and should continue to mature bringing another splash of colour to the railway in the coming months.

Work continues on the heritage carriage

The construction of the Heritage carriage has come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks. Garmendale Engineering Ltd has completed the main super structure and is being test fitted onto the chassis.  The brake rod has been attached to the bogies and the structure has been sent off to be powder coated. Hunslet Engine Company has updated the pivot point design to accommodate the height of the bogies.

 Holes have been pre-drilled into the chassis structure ready for the seating to be dropped into place. The timber for the windows has been fitted with the corner detailing, typical of a Victorian carriage, are ready to be attached.

Our engineering team uncovered a true treasure while dismantling carriage 2, the donor carriage for the heritage carriage, original brass handles! These handles have been stripped of their black paint and polished up ready to be used on the Victorian carriage.

Tickets for the Heritage Steam Experience includes an incredible site-seeing trip spanning up to 3 hours.

There is a lot of work still to be done on the heritage carriage but with progress ahead of schedule everything is looking good ready for its launch in June. 

To avoid disappointment, tickets can be pre-booked either through our website or by calling the booking hotline on 0844 493 8120 every day from 1pm.

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#snowdon

Service resumes after heavy snow

After a tremendous effort from our Permanent Way team we are now back to business and running to halfway up Snowdon. The extremely heavy snowfall is very unusual for spring – this time last year the summit building was open and we were enjoying a glorious heat wave!

The team have been working in extreme conditions with 30 feet snow drifts and bitterly cold temperatures of -10°C, wind speeds have peaked as high as 103mph at Clogwyn Station. The weather was even putting our machinery to the test with 2 excavators taking 10 days to reach the half-way point. The team are doing their very best to uncover more track so that trains can reach higher parts of the mountain. 

We are still hopeful to be running to the summit by early May. Once the track is clear there is a ten day commissioning period to set the building up ready for passengers and climbers.

The weather in Llanberis today is beautiful sunshine and blue skies, it is the perfect day for the visiting us. The BBC joined us yesterday; you can see what happened on The One Show later this evening at 7.00pm.

First day of the season

The start of the season has kicked off to a great success after a busy few weeks of preparation. On Saturday, we welcomed the first of our passengers with a hot panad before they boarded the train to ascend up to Clogwyn Station (3/4 up Snowdon). Heavy snowfall over night resulted in one of the excavator being sent up to clear the snow ready for our trains.

The first train journeys of the season will be pushed by our Traditional Diesel Service with its new contemporary carriages. These stunning carriages were partially funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and built in a partnership between Garmendale Engineering Limited, Hunslet Engine Company and the Snowdon Mountain Railway. You can watch Ninian pushing carriage 14 for its first journey up Snowdon on YouTube.

Peter Johnson kindly joined us in the gift shop afterwards to sign a few copies of his comprehensive publication 'An Illustrated History of the Snowdon Mountain Railway'.

The season has now begun and we look forward to welcoming all our passengers in 2013.

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Arrival of carriages 15 and 16

It’s been a busy morning at the Railway with carriages 15 and 16 being lifted onto the tracks. These carriages are the second and third of four new contemporary carriages that the Railway will take delivery of before the beginning of the season. 15 and 16 will now begin the commissioning process to make sure everything is ready ahead of the start of the season.

The last of the new contemporary carriages, 17, has come out the paint shop and is in its final stages of construction. The flooring, windows and doors are to be attached to the carriage structure and the final wiring, lights and brakes are to be fitted. Carriage 17 will be delivered 13^th March.

It has been a bright and sunny start to March but snow still covers the peak of Snowdon making the likely destination for the beginning of the season to be Clogwyn, three quarters up the mountain. It’s going to be an exciting year for the Railway and we can’t wait to get started!

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