Mountain railway on track for summer

And now the railway, famed for its breathtaking views, is getting a £2.6 million makeover to bring its Victorian technology into the 21st century.

The old 19th century track is being torn up and replaced by a design with more modern safety features. The unusual rack-and-pinion design, where gears on the bottom of the train grip a rack which runs in the middle of the track, between the lines, will be retained. But the new Y-shaped design means there is no need for a safety girder to hold the train on the track.

Over the past few months, engineers have battled through snow, ice and fog to relay 918ft of the new track, with the first stretch opening to the public for the first time this weekend.

But this is just the beginning, with the work expected to take up to a decade before it is complete.

Since it opened in 1896, the railway has attracted some 120,000 passengers every year. It operates four steam engines – three of which have been in use since the beginning – and four diesel engines along the 4.75-mile route from Llanberis to the summit, with five stops along the way. One of the stops is next to a spectacular waterfall.

The work comes as proposals were announced which could see visitors to Snowdon being asked to make a donation towards the cost of its upkeep.

The Snowdon Partnership is asking the 500,000 people who climb the mountain every year to make voluntary donations following concerns about damage and litter.

Other moves include encouraging walkers to use guides to help them reach the summit, addressing parking issues and starting a young ranger and voluntary warden scheme.

There had been calls to charge walkers to hike up the mountain, but Snowdonia National Park – which manages it – previously said this would be difficult to enforce.

Staff at the Snowdon Railway will be hoping this weekend's reopening will go better than its inaugural ride on April 6, 1896, when its first train, pulled by the locomotive Ladas, lost contact with the rack and slipped back down the hill before the locomotive crashed off the edge of the cliff. The driver, fireman and two passengers jumped from the train, but one of the passengers, Ellis Griffith Roberts, suffered fatal injuries from the fall.

Following a safety review, the design was modified to include a girder running next to the rack to lock the train in place, and there has never been an accident since. The railway has opened from March to November every year apart from during the two world wars.

Senior engineering manager Mike Robertshaw says there are no fears of a similar disaster during this weekend's relaunch, 122 years later.

"The new tracks we are putting in are now the best on the railway," says the 57-year-old.