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Bob Wilson | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> TRAMS - Great Orme Tramway tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

TRAMS - Great Orme Tramway

The Great Orme Tramway (Welsh: Tramffordd y Gogarth) is a cable-hauled 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tramway in Llandudno in north Wales. This is Great Britain's only remaining cable operated street tramway and one of only three surviving in the world]. It takes passengers from Llandudno Victoria Station to just below the summit of the Great Orme headland. Operation of the tramway differs from the better-known San Francisco system in that it is not a cable car but rather a street running funicular (similar to the Lisbon system), where the cars are permanently fixed to the cable, and are stopped and started by stopping and starting the cable. As one car is ascending, the other is descending, and they meet midway. The tramway was opened on two stages: the lower section on 31 July 1902 and the upper on 8 July 1903. The two sections operate independently, with two cars on each section which are mechanically separate. The lower section is built on or alongside the public road and has gradients as steep as 1 in 3.8. The cable on this section lies below the road surface in a conduit between the rails. The bottom half of the section is single track, but above the passing loop it has interlaced double track. In comparison, the upper section is less steep, with a maximum gradient of 1 in 10, and is single track apart from a short double track passing loop equipped with Abt type points to accommodate the cable The tramway uses four tramcars, in service since 1902. An overhead wire telegraph was formerly used for communication between the tram and the engineer-driver in charge of winding the drum, and has been replaced with an induction-loop radio-control system. The tramway has three main stations, the lower station named "Victoria" after the hotel that formerly occupied the station site, the middle one aptly named 'Halfway', and the Great Orme Summit station. Passengers must change trams at the Halfway station.
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 @ Bottom Station
4 on the Lower Section
4 on the Lower Section
4 on the Lower Section
4 on the Lower Section
4 on the Lower Section
4 on the Lower Section
5 @ Halfway on Lower Section
5 @ Halfway on Lower Section
5 @ Halfway on Lower Section
5 @ Halfway on Lower Section
5 @ Halfway on Lower Section
5 @ Halfway on Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
5 on the Lower Section
6 @ Summitt Station
6 @ Summitt Station
6 @ Summitt Station
6 @ Summitt Station
6 @ Summitt Station
6 @ Summitt Station
6 approaching Summitt Station
6 approaching Summitt Station
6 approaching Summitt Station
6 approaching Summitt Station
6 on the Upper Section
6 on the Upper Section
6 on the Upper Section
6 on the Upper Section
6 on the Upper section
6 on the Upper section
6 on the Upper section
6 on the Upper section
6 on the Upper Section
6 on the Upper Section
6 on the upper Section @ Halfway
6 on the upper Section @ Halfway
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 on Upper Section
6 Upper section from Halfway Station
6 Upper section from Halfway Station
7 @ Halfway on way to the Top
7 @ Halfway on way to the Top
7 @ Halfway on way to the Top
7 @ Halfway on way to the Top
7 @ Halfway Station
7 @ Halfway Station
7 @ Top Station
7 @ Top Station
7 @ Top Station
7 @ Top Station
7 leaving the Summitt Station
7 leaving the Summitt Station
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the upper Section
7 on the upper Section
7 on the Upper section
7 on the Upper section
Halfway Station Sign
Halfway Station Sign
Track Map @ Halfway
Track Map @ Halfway