Snowdon Mountain Railway
1896 · Rack Railway · Work 39 of 1,871
A small rack railway locomotive pushing a single carriage up the flank of Snowdon, boiler mounted at an angle to stay level on the gradient, cloud breaking over the ridge above.
- What it was used for
- The mountain line up Snowdon in Wales, the only rack railway in Britain.
- What was new
- Not adhesion but engagement: a pinion meshes with a rack between the rails. Grades become workable on which any wheel would slip — and the boiler sits tilted in the frame so that it stands level on the climb. On the opening day, 6 April 1896, the locomotive *L.A.D.A.S.* left the rack above Clogwyn, derailed and fell down the mountainside; the cause was track distortion from frost. The carriages held on their own brakes and nobody in them was hurt. One passenger jumped and died of his injuries — the only passenger ever killed in a train accident on this line, and it happened on the first day.
Connections
Every connection names its kind. “Forerunner” on its own would be a claim.
- Rediscovered inSalamanca1812Blenkinsop's rack of 1811-12 fell out of general use as soon as wrought-iron rails could carry heavier adhesion locomotives. For mountain lines the principle came back: Riggenbach 1874, Abt 1882 - and in 1896 Snowdon runs on the Abt system.Source: MyLearning (Museums- und Archivportal, Leeds): The Rack and Pinion Railway - John Blenkinsop · Railway Wonders of the World: Rack Rail Locomotives