I had hoped to bring you pictures of the track plan printed out but the forces of darkness conspired to thwart me so in an attempt to keep the wheels turning I am dropping in a trip to Llanberis a couple of weeks ago to see primarily a loco visiting from Switzerland from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn Unfortunately there was a technical issue with the loco and it was only going as far as the kiddies play area so we didn’t get to see it in full flow or get free ride behind it to the middle station although my friend has been to the Rothorn twice but hadn’t seen this particular loco. We had climbed up the road on the Llanberis path to Snowdon in the hope of seeing it before we knew that the loco wasn’t venturing up that far. It’s certainly a stiff climb away from the station and maybe not for the faint hearted. Being allegedly the easiest route to the summit but the longest it follows near or along side the railway. Although we were not there to do the ascent walk we still managed a reasonable way up. Returning back to flat land was way harder than expected. We did manage to see two Hunslets passing each other at the middle station on our way down though.

Snowdon Mountain Railway certainly don’t encourage people to see or enjoy the trains at the main station in Llanberis even the café limits the view of the platforms. But we did get to see it slowly move out of the station and in what seemed like a blink of an eye return to it’s off stage resting point. Unfortunately the picture really doesn’t do it justice and there’s plenty of footage of it in its natural domain. But we were a bit disappointed in not getting a proper photo opportunity with it.

Ever since I was kid I had the Rev Awdry Railway Series books and one of the ones that stuck with me the most was the mountain railway engines going up in a Storm and it’s all ways been a idea that I would one day travel up the SMR but seeing the price it’s not something to take lightly.

Until next time..