The Snowdon Mountain Railway

The Snowdon Mountain Railway climbs 4.7 miles from the village of Llanberis to the summit of Yr Wyddfa, Snowdon, at 1,085 metres the highest mountain in Wales. It is the only public rack railway in the United Kingdom: a toothed rack laid between the rails lets the trains climb gradients as steep as 1 in 5.5, at an average speed of about 5 mph. The journey takes an hour each way, with half an hour at the top.

The line was built in fourteen months by 150 men and opened at Easter 1896, with track and engines designed in Switzerland, where mountain railways were already an old idea. Its opening day ended in an accident, and it did not reopen until April 1897. It has run every season since, although the summit itself was closed for military use from 1942 until the end of the Second World War.

Each train is a single carriage pushed up the mountain by its locomotive. Most are Traditional Diesel trains; on weekdays from late spring to autumn the Heritage Steam Experience uses the railway's Swiss steam engines and two carriages rebuilt to their 1896 design. At the top is Hafod Eryri, the highest visitor centre in the UK, and on a clear day the view reaches Ireland. The mountain decides how far the train goes: in high wind it may turn back at Rocky Valley, and in early spring it stops at Clogwyn, three-quarters of the way up.

The trains leave from Llanberis station, at 108 metres beside the main road through the village. Its gift shop is in the original booking hall of 1896, and a short film about the railway's history plays before boarding. The engine shed and workshops sit at the end of the platforms.

Llanberis to Halfway

Within minutes the line crosses two viaducts over the Afon Hwch, the first above the Ceunant Mawr waterfall, and passes the old Waterfall Halt. It then climbs out of the trees into an open valley, where the first passing loop, Hebron, takes its name from a ruined chapel of 1833. The railway is single track with three loops spaced evenly up the mountain, about fifteen minutes apart, where trains going up and coming down pass each other. At Halfway, 500 metres up, steam engines stop to refill their water tanks; walkers on the Llanberis Path come into view alongside.

Halfway to the summit

Above Halfway the train runs along the sheer edge of Rocky Valley, with cars on the Llanberis Pass far below on one side and the Llŷn Peninsula on the other. Clogwyn station, at 779 metres, stands on an exposed ridge looking across to the cliffs of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu; the wind is measured here to decide whether trains can go on. The final stretch follows the ridge to Summit station at 1,065 metres, a few minutes' walk below the cairn.

The trains

The line is built to 800 mm gauge on Roman Abt's rack system of 1885, with a double rack offset by one tooth and gripper rails that hold every vehicle onto the track. The steam engines were all built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works of Winterthur, five in 1895–96 and three more in 1922–23; three are still in service, and No. 5 Moel Siabod returned in 2017 after almost twenty years out of use. Since 2022 they have burned a smokeless manufactured coal. The four Hunslet diesels, Ninian, Yeti, Peris and George, arrived between 1986 and 1992 and work the everyday service with four modern carriages introduced in 2013. Whatever the motive power, the locomotive always sits at the downhill end: it pushes its carriage up and holds it back on the way down.

Trains run from late March to the beginning of November, to Clogwyn in March and April and to the summit from May, weather permitting. There is no printed timetable: the first train leaves Llanberis at 09:00 and the rest follow at half-hourly intervals through the day, as many as demand needs, with the last departures in the early afternoon. Every ticket is for a named departure, so book your train and arrive an hour before it.

October 2026. Essential works mean most trains run only to Clogwyn this month:

Good to know:

• How long. The summit trip is about 1 hour up, 30 minutes at the top and 1 hour down. A Clogwyn trip is about 45 minutes each way with 30 minutes at the station.
• Same train back. Return tickets bring you down on the train you went up with. A ticket bought for the summit between 17 and 25 October that only reaches Clogwyn because of the works is refunded £9.
• Weather. In high wind a train may turn back at Rocky Valley or be cancelled; if it is cancelled, you can rebook or take a full refund. Visibility at the top is never guaranteed.
• The last train of 2026 is the diesel of 1 November; steam ends on 30 October.

Times as of October 2026, from the operator's live booking calendar. Check your date on snowdonrailway.co.uk (opens in a new tab).

Tickets are sold by the railway itself, online or at the Llanberis ticket office from 08:15, and each one is for a named departure with the same train back. A return to the summit on the Traditional Diesel Service costs £45 off-peak and £48 at peak times; on the Heritage Steam Experience it is £62 and £72. A diesel return to Clogwyn is £36. Children aged 3 to 15 pay less, and a child of 2 or under rides free on an adult's lap.

Singles are sold up only: a ticket down cannot be booked and is sold at the summit if there is room. Online booking adds £4 per booking. Trains sell out in school holidays and fine weather, so book ahead. Fares checked October 2026 on snowdonrailway.co.uk (opens in a new tab); pounds sterling, one adult.

No rail pass is valid on the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Interrail's table of railway companies for Great Britain does not list it, and BritRail's conditions exclude privately owned, steam, heritage and tourist railways. You buy the railway's own ticket.

A pass can still bring you close. The nearest main-line station is Bangor, about ten miles away on the North Wales Coast line, served by Transport for Wales, which both passes include. Local buses stop at Llanberis; the railway points travellers to Traveline for times.

For this journey alone, a pass is not worth buying. It pays only if Snowdon is one stop on a longer rail trip round Wales or Britain.

Checked October 2026 against interrail.com (opens in a new tab) and britrail.com (opens in a new tab).

Llanberis is the base for the railway, and everything below is in or near the village: the lake at its edge, the castle above it, the old quarry across the water, and the pass that leads into the mountains behind.

Llanberis is the place to stay, close enough to walk to your train. The Royal Victoria stands across the road from the station; the railway's founding company owned it until 1924. Over the Llanberis Pass, the Pen-y-Gwryd is a mountaineers' inn at the foot of Snowdon.

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