Have you ever been to Llandudno? The Victorian seaside resort on the north coast of Wales is not only worth a visit for its attractive location and surroundings, there is also a very special attraction for those interested in historical technology: the Great Orme Tramway.
Branded “tramway”, a rail service has been operating here for more than 120 years to the Great Orme mountain, which is located at the western end of Llandudno Bay. However, it is not actually a tramway in the conventional sense, but rather a funicular railway consisting of two sections. The lower, approximately 800 metres long section runs almost entirely on the road surface and therefore requires special attention from the driver. If a dangerous situation should actually arise in conjunction with the sparse car traffic, the use of the emergency brake is the way out. In practice, however, this fortunately only happens very rarely.
The upper, some 750 metres long section of the course runs on a single track, using its own right-of-way independent of other traffic, and there is only one street crossing controlled with flashing lights. At the halfway station, passengers have to change between the two sections, pass through the machine house and can even see parts of the mechanics of the system. The very different gradients on the two parts of the line made it necessary to split the line into two sections.
The Great Orme Tramway started revenue service in 1902 (lower section) and 1903 and has been running during the summer months without too many significant changes over the years. About 25 years ago, the previous overhead wire, which actually gave the system a little more resemblance to a tramway, was removed. In fact, however, this wire was only used to transmit messages via trolley booms, so it was not a real contact wire for power supply.
From the 1960s onwards, an aerial cableway was established as a competitor, but the tramway survived this too, as well as the ‘threat’ of the paved street, which can be used by anyone without restriction. As a tourist attraction, the funicular tramway is still extremely popular and indispensable today.
Cable trams in the street with paved tracks and underground cable routing can only be found in very few places in the world, and San Francisco’s cable car lines will certainly come to mind first for many readers. Here, however, the carriages engage and disengage from the permanently driven, underground cables, whereas the Great Orme Tramway is a funicular railway with a typical drive concept using two carriages suspended from the same cable. The cable is deflected at the upper end. Such funicular trams in the street space can still be found in three other places in Lisbon and in Viseu in Portugal, too, even though this service is currently interrupted.
2025 saison of the Great Orme Tramway started on 27 March – a visit is highly recommended!
