The Snowdon Mountain Railway is a narrow gauge rack and pinion mountain railway in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a tourist railway that travels for 4.7 miles (7.6 km) from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon, the highest peak in Wales.
The vacuum brake is a braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Vacuum brakes also enjoyed a brief period of adoption in the United States, primarily on narrow-gauge railroads. Their limitations caused them to be progressively superseded by compressed air systems starting in the United Kingdom from the 1970s onward. The vacuum brake system is now obsolete; it is not in large-scale usage anywhere in the world, other than in South Africa, largely supplanted by air brakes.
The Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928 in the village of Charfield in the English county of Gloucestershire. The Leeds to Bristol London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) night mail train failed to stop at the signals protecting the down refuge siding at Charfield railway station. The weather was misty, but there was not a sufficiently thick fog for the signalman at Charfield to employ fog signalmen. A freight train was in the process of being shunted from the down main line to the siding, and another train of empty goods wagons was passing through the station from the Bristol (up) direction.
Push–pull is a configuration for locomotive-hauled trains, allowing them to be driven from either end of the train, whether having a locomotive at each end or not.
This article contains a list of jargon used to varying degrees by railfans, trainspotters, and railway employees in the United Kingdom, including nicknames for various locomotives and multiple units. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to time in specialist, rail-related publications. There may be significant regional variation in usage.
The GWR Autocoach is a type of coach that was used by the Great Western Railway for push-pull trains powered by a steam locomotive. The distinguishing design feature of an autocoach is the driving cab at one end, allowing the driver to control the train without needing to be located in the cab of the steam locomotive. This eliminates the need to run the engine round to the other end of the coach at the end of each journey.
Railmotor is a term used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere for a railway lightweight railcar, usually consisting of a railway carriage with a steam traction unit, or a diesel or petrol engine, integrated into it.
The North Eastern Railway (NER) Bogie Tank Passenger (BTP) locomotives were designed by Edward Fletcher in 1873. The locomotives were for hauling passenger services on branch lines. They had an 0-4-4 wheel layout and a total of 124 locomotives were built. They were designated G6 by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).
The DB railways Köf III class are light two axle shunting locomotives of Deutsche Bahn AG.
The Slough rail accident happened on 16 June 1900 at Slough railway station on the Great Western Main Line when an express train from London Paddington to Falmouth Docks ran through two sets of signals at danger, and collided with a local train heading for Windsor & Eton Central. Five passengers were killed; 35 were seriously injured, and 90 complained of shock or minor injuries
Barry Railway Class B1 were 0-6-2T steam tank locomotives of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by J. H. Hosgood and built by Sharp Stewart, & Co., Vulcan Foundry and Société Franco-Belge. The locomotive, though similar to the B class, differed in having an increased tank capacity of 1,630 gallons compared with the 1,400 gallons of the B class. The purpose of this was to enable them to take a train of empty wagons from Cadoxton Yard to Trehafod Junction without the need to refill the tank.
In railroad terminology, double heading indicates the use of two locomotives at the front of a train, each operated individually by its own crew. The practice of triple-heading involves the use of three locomotives. The practice of multi-heading involves the use of multiple locomotives and so on.
Barry Railway Class L were 0-6-4T steam tank locomotives of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by John Auld, his only design for the Barry Railway, built by Hawthorn Leslie and Company and were introduced in 1914. They were originally intended for use on heavy coal trains from Trehafod but, as the B1 class proved more than adequate for the work, they were assigned to different duties. These included pulling mineral trains from Rhymney and New Tredegar on the Brecon and Merthyr, from Rogerstone Yard on the Great Western and from Neath Junction, also on the Great Western. They were also to be seen occasionally pulling the suburban service to Cardiff.
Barry Railway Class J were 2-4-2T steam locomotives of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by J. F. Hosgood, built by both Hudswell Clarke and Sharp, Stewart and Company and were introduced in 1897. Their main use was on the Barry to Cardiff suburban service and had a reputation for always being smartly turned out. They were all shedded at Barry. The locomotives passed to the Great Western Railway in 1922. None survived into British Railways ownership and none have been preserved.
Barry Railway Class G were 0-4-4T steam tank locomotives of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by J. F. Hosgood, built by both Vulcan Foundry and Sharp Stewart and were introduced in 1892. Initially used for the Barry to Cardiff suburban service, they were transferred to passenger duties on the main line between Barry and Porth as well as the service between Pontypridd Graig and Cardiff Clarence Road, once the 'J' class had displaced them on the Barry to Cardiff run. The company insisted that their passenger locomotives should be smartly turned out and the 'G' class was no exception. The locomotives passed to the Great Western Railway in 1922. None survived into British Railways ownership and none have been preserved.
Barry Railway Class D were 0-8-0 steam tender engines of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were built to a standard Sharp, Stewart and Company design modified by John Waddington Mann, the Chief Mechanical Engineer for the Swedish & Norwegian Railway. In fact, 20 of these locomotives were ordered by this railway. However the company ran into severe financial difficulty with the result that only one and a half locomotives were paid for by the S&N.
Barry Railway Class K were 0-6-2T steam tank engines of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by J. H. Hosgood and built by an American company, Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works of Paterson, New Jersey. At the time the Barry wanted to order these locomotives, British manufacturers already had a full order book. In order not to face an indefinite wait, invitations to tender were advertised in the United States. Hosgood's aim was to have a tank engine equivalent to the “Class B1”. However, because of his desire for a speedy delivery, he agreed to certain compromises in the design. The order was placed in April 1899 and was delivered later that year. Like the 0-8-2 tank locomotives Cooke built for the Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company around the same time, the engines had the clean lines and uncluttered appearance of British practice, but had bar frames, the front buffer beam separate from the footplate, as well as cylinder and saddle designs typical of American pactice.
Barry Railway Class F were 0-6-0ST steam saddle tank engines of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by J. H. Hosgood and built by a number of British companies.
Barry Railway Class C were originally 2-4-0T steam locomotives of the Barry Railway in South Wales. They were designed by J. H. Hosgood and built by Sharp Stewart.
Barry Railway Class A were the first steam tank engines to be built for the Barry Railway in South Wales and had an 0-6-0T wheel arrangement. They were designed by John Wolfe Barry and built by Sharp Stewart.
