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Snowdon Mountain Railway

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Anon Mouse

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We should be visiting North Wales on the weekend of 17th-18th March and we were planning on going on the Snowdon Mountain Railway but their website's information is very vague. Basically I want to know if the trains will be going all the way to the summit, what traction will be in operation and if its expected to be busy. Cheers

Failing that I may need a lot of persuasion to get the Wife on the Welsh Highland!
 
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pemma

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You should book in advance or be prepared to wait around for a few hours on the day.

The trains stop 200m short of the summit, so you have to do the last little bit on foot.

IIRC there are no intermediate stations but downhill trains stop a few times due to the infrastructure of single track and loops.

You have to return down on the same train you went up on which gives you 30 minutes at the top, unless you choose to take the train up and walk down.
 

Anon Mouse

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You should book in advance or be prepared to wait around for a few hours on the day.

The trains stop 200m short of the summit, so you have to do the last little bit on foot.

IIRC there are no intermediate stations but downhill trains stop a few times due to the infrastructure of single track and loops.

You have to return down on the same train you went up on which gives you 30 minutes at the top, unless you choose to take the train up and walk down.

Cheers for that. It does say on the website that the trains only go to summit from late March, but its not specific on dates unfortunatly. Llanberis is a nice place, went there as a bairn. :)
 

pemma

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but its not specific on dates unfortunatly.

Just noticed this on the site:

Weather permitting trains will run every day from late March to the end of October. From March to Early May trains will terminate at either Clogwyn or Rocky Valley (subject to winter weather conditions). The Summit Station is the usual destination between May and the end of October. Trains may be operated by steam or diesel traction. When the summit is the destination passengers are not allowed to board or alight at any other halt.

I imagine that means they have an expected start date in March but it might be postponed if the weather is bad and it also looks like the trains won't go to the summit until later on in the season.
 

Anon Mouse

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Just noticed this on the site:

Weather permitting trains will run every day from late March to the end of October. From March to Early May trains will terminate at either Clogwyn or Rocky Valley (subject to winter weather conditions). The Summit Station is the usual destination between May and the end of October. Trains may be operated by steam or diesel traction. When the summit is the destination passengers are not allowed to board or alight at any other halt.

I imagine that means they have an expected start date in March but it might be postponed if the weather is bad and it also looks like the trains won't go to the summit until later on in the season.

yeah its a very user freindly website.....NOT! :lol: I might just settle on the Welsh Highland line
 

PaxVobiscum

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We should be visiting North Wales on the weekend of 17th-18th March and we were planning on going on the Snowdon Mountain Railway but their website's information is very vague. Basically I want to know if the trains will be going all the way to the summit, what traction will be in operation and if its expected to be busy. Cheers

If it's not running, why not just drive up to the summit in a 4x4 <D
(the locals will understand the reference!)
 

Cymroglan

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The Snowdon is possibly the most unwelcoming railway I've ever encountered. Ticket prices are really quite expensive, which is totally understandable, but I'm not prepared to pay that amount of money to ride behind a narrow gauge diesel, and booking office staff verge on rudeness if you ask the question. So I walk to the summit and take piccies of the trains en route.
 

507 001

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The Snowdon is possibly the most unwelcoming railway I've ever encountered. Ticket prices are really quite expensive, which is totally understandable, but I'm not prepared to pay that amount of money to ride behind a narrow gauge diesel, and booking office staff verge on rudeness if you ask the question. So I walk to the summit and take piccies of the trains en route.

Got to agree with you there. Its also a very unpredictable service, they will cut short or cancel services at a moments notice and have been known to be very stingy with refunds etc...

It is a beautiful ride though, better with the steam locos but it is mostly diesel hauled/propelled now.

You'd be better sticking with the Welsh Highland (I'm not biased at all... honest :lol:)
 

1018509

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The Snowdon is possibly the most unwelcoming railway I've ever encountered. Ticket prices are really quite expensive, which is totally understandable, but I'm not prepared to pay that amount of money to ride behind a narrow gauge diesel, and booking office staff verge on rudeness if you ask the question. So I walk to the summit and take piccies of the trains en route.
Yes, I've heard the line is going downhill. (50% of the time anyway). :)

Are these the only trains that are not actually hauled anywhere?
 

Anon Mouse

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It seems they don't want the Entusuast coin. Never mind, I think the Welsh Highland may be more deserving of our custom. Does anyone know if the Pullman Car is in use everyday and how much extra it costs?
 

Greenback

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The SMR does not seem to be very customer orientated , particularly in the modern customer focused era, but then again they always seem to be very busy so perhaps they dont' have to be!
 

341o2

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Its been some 20 years since my visit to the SMR, but what I encountered still exists today.

Firstly, the weather is unpredictable, and trains may be curtailed/suspended at short notice

Secondly, demand exceeds supply, the only reason I was able to travel on the day of my visit was being a single adult, far easier to find one odd seat, even then I had to wait
 

plannerman

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I always walk up Snowdon - the price of the train is shocking, and anyway I enjoy the challenge of walking. The line can be clearly seen from most of the Llanberis Path, and there are some spectacular train pics to be had in the right weather conditions.

They do curtail the service if poor weather is forecast, but having been up the summit in 100mph-plus winds I certainly wouldn't fancy running a rail service there. It's worth remembering that Snowdon is quite a long way from Llanberis, and just because the weather's nice in Llanberis doesn't mean it is on the mountain.
 

eMeS

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The comments above about fares surprise me as three of us (all adults) went to the summit about 15 years ago, and I can't remember worrying about the fare - and almost certainly I was paying. I remember feeling "superior" when my Garmin GPS showed the "correct" OS map height for the summit, when other makes were in error by several feet.This was before Clinton had removed the built-in error code.

Have the fares increased (relative to others) in the last decade? Or have they increased now that the summit restaurant has been revamped?
 

507 001

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It's worth remembering that Snowdon is quite a long way from Llanberis, and just because the weather's nice in Llanberis doesn't mean it is on the mountain.

A common saying in North wales is "If you don't like the weather, just go into the next valley!" Its true too....:|
 

185

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3 tickets and you could probably buy a rusty old 4X4, one previous owner, currently jailed, two successful ascents of Snowdon.
 

Prometheus

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£25 return :shock:

Two of those and you've bought yourself a half-decent pair of boots...



i paid £18.50 return back in the mid-1990s, about 1996-97.

£25 doesn't seem at all unreasonable for a railway that is only open for part of the year and must cost an absolute fortune to maintain.
 

Prometheus

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I have the strangest feeling that we paid nearer £29 each in 2009.


I wouldn't be surprised. The web site quotes a £25.00 return fare for 2012, or £19.00 return for the 09:00 departure only.

I don't think it's unreasonable. It's a bargain compared to the trip up the Jungfrau in Switzerland. For 2012 that costs SFr 190.20 return, which is £131.44!!
 
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