Moel Siabod returns to Snowdon’s summit

Snowdon Mountain Railway No. 5 Moel Siabod has returned to the summit of Wales’ highest mountain for the first time in 17 years.


1896-built Snowdon Mountain Railway No. 5 Moel Siabod has returned to active service for the first time in 17 years. SMR

Withdrawn in 2000, the 0-4-2RT is now the railway’s flagship engine, following a comprehensive £60,000 overhaul. No. 5’s return to service on the SMR brings the mountain railway’s operational steam fleet up to four, joining Nos. 2 Enid, 3 Wyddfa and 6 Padarn.

Snowdon Mountain Railway General Manager, Alan Kendall, says: ““I’m extremely pleased to have Moel Siabod back in service and taking passengers up Snowdon once again.

“Our engineers assure me it is the best presented locomotive on our railway and the benchmark for all future locomotive re-builds.”

Carrie Probin, marketing executive at Snowdon Mountain Railway, said: “No. 5 has been given a thorough overhaul and our engineers are proud to see the steam engine restored to its prime and returning to the summit of Wales’ highest mountain.”

Moel Siabod was one of the original batch of five rack locomotives built for the SMR in 1895/6 by the Swiss Locomotive & Manufacturing Co. in Winterthur, and is named after a neighbouring mountain in Snowdonia. Only four of the original five locomotives survive, as No. 1 LADAS was destroyed in an accident on the line’s opening day on April 6 1896.

The fleet was supplemented in 1923 by a trio of superheated locomotives - Nos. 6 Padarn, 7 Ralph and 8 Eyri – also built by the Winterthur firm, of which only Padarn is operational.

For more information about Snowdon Mountain Railway, and to book tickets on the steam or diesel services visit: www.snowdonrailway.co.uk.

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£60K seems a bit on the low side.