A mountain railway is a railway that operates in a mountainous region. It may operate through the mountains by following mountain valleys and tunneling beneath mountain passes, or it may climb a mountain to provide transport to and from the summit.
The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway is a 15 in minimum gauge heritage railway in Cumbria, England. The 7-mile (11.3 km) line runs from Ravenglass to Dalegarth Station near Boot in the valley of Eskdale, in the Lake District. At Ravenglass the line ends at Ravenglass railway station on the Cumbrian Coast Line.
The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge railway in Wales running for 7+1⁄4 miles (12 km) from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1865 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain authorised by Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe underinvestment, the line remained open, and in 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be preserved as a heritage railway by volunteers.
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. A return journey, including the stop at the summit, takes 2½ hours.
Wilbert Vere Awdry, often credited as Rev. W. Awdry, was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He is best remembered as the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine and several other characters who appeared in his Railway Series.
The Diocese of Sodor and Man is a diocese of the Church of England. It is one of only two Church of England dioceses not within the United Kingdom. Originally much larger, today it covers just the Isle of Man and its adjacent islets. Today, the bishop's office is in Douglas and the cathedral is in Peel. The diocese is not generally called either "Sodor diocese" or "Man diocese".
The Isle of Man Railway (IMR) is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin in the Isle of Man. The line is 3 ft narrow gauge and 15+1⁄2 miles long. It is the remainder of what was a much larger network that also served the western town of Peel, the northern town of Ramsey and the mining village of Foxdale. Now in government ownership, it uses original rolling stock and locomotives and there are few concessions to modernity.
The Railway Series is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Twenty-six books were written by Awdry, the final one being written in October 1972. Sixteen more were written by his son, Christopher Awdry, between September 1983 and July 2011. The series features many anthropomorphic vehicles, including Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas became the most popular and famous character in the series and the titular character of the television series Thomas & Friends from 1984 to 2021. The children's television series originated as adaptations of these stories.
Toby the Tram Engine is a fictional anthropomorphic tram engine who debuted in The Railway Series by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher. He is best known for his appearance in the television series adaptation Thomas & Friends, and would later appear briefly its reboot, Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go. Toby has cowcatchers and sideplates, and is the North Western Railway's number 7. He works on the Ffarquhar Branch Line alongside Thomas the Tank Engine.
The Manx Northern Railway (MNR) was the second common carrier railway built in the Isle of Man. It was a steam railway between St John's and Ramsey. It operated as an independent concern only from 1879 to 1905.
The Isle of Man has a rich transport heritage and boasts the largest narrow-gauge railway network in the British Isles with several historic railways and tramways still in operation. These operate largely to what is known as "Manx Standard Gauge" and together they comprise about 65 miles (105 km) of Victorian railways and tramways. The Isle of Man Railway Museum in Port Erin allows people to find out more about the history of the Manx railways, and was until 1998 accompanied by a similar museum in Ramsey, which was dedicated to the history of the electric line, but this was closed and converted into a youth club. The steam railway to the south of the island, electric to the north and mountain line to the summit of Snaefell, the island's only mountain, are all government-owned, and operated under the title Isle of Man Railways, as a division of the island's Department of Infrastructure. The lines at Groudle Glen and Curraghs Wildlife Park are both privately owned but open to the public.
Kirk Michael Railway Station was an intermediate station on the Manx Northern Railway (MNR), which ran between St. John's and Ramsey in the Isle of Man, later owned and operated by the Isle of Man Railway. It served the village of Kirk Michael.
Guðrøðr is a masculine Old Norse personal name. The name is rendered in Old Irish and Middle Irish as Gofraid or Gofraidh. Anglicised forms of the Old Norse name are Godred, Guthred, and Guthfrith. The name is also Latinised as Godredus.
Thomas the Tank Engine is an anthropomorphised fictional tank locomotive in the British Railway Series books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, published from 1945. He became the most popular character in the series, and is the titular protagonist in the accompanying television series adaptation Thomas & Friends and its reboot Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go.
Douglas is a narrow gauge steam locomotive. It was built by Andrew Barclay Sons & Co. Ltd. in 1918. It was originally used by the Air Service Constructional Corps (RAF) then was bought in 1949 by Abelson & Co. (Engineers) Ltd. who then sold it to the Talyllyn Railway in 1953.
The Crovan dynasty, from the late 11th century to the mid 13th century, was the ruling family of an insular kingdom known variously in secondary sources as the Kingdom of Mann, the Kingdom of the Isles, and the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. The eponymous founder of the dynasty was Godred Crovan, who appeared from obscurity in the late 11th century, before his takeover of the Isle of Man and Dublin. The dynasty was of Gaelic-Scandinavian origin, descending from a branch of the Uí Ímair, a dominant kindred in the Irish Sea region which first appears on record in the late 9th century.
