Hunslet to the Summit

The Snowdonia National Park Authority has for several years been planning and raising money for the redevelopment of the building on Snowdon Summit. The current building was built in 1935 and is in very poor condition.

With the generous support of the Welsh Assembly Government and a public appeal, the work on re-developing the Summit of Snowdon has begun.

Demolition of the old building will start in September 2006 and the building of the new Visitors Centre will take place during 2007.

As part of this prestigious project Snowdon Mountain Railway have recently taken delivery of the Summit Truck from the Hunslet Engine Company. This Summit Truck will be used throughout the project, initially to remove the spoil from the demolished building and then to transport the materials and pre-fabricated sections of the new building to the summit.

Although in appearance this looks to the casual observer as a flat truck, this vehicle is fitted with all the safety systems needed to operate on this unique and challenging railway. Hunslet engineers have taken proven braking systems and combined them with the latest electronic control and monitoring systems, giving the railways operator’s full awareness of the status of the system. The summit truck will be operated in conjunction with any one of the four Hunslet Diesel Locomotives currently working on the mountain. All four locomotives will be modified to accommodate the monitoring system for the summit truck, giving full flexibility to the operation of the railway.

Once the summit project is complete the truck will be used as a permanent way vehicle. A personal accommodation module will be fitted to one end of the vehicle and provision will be made for the fitting of modular units i.e. cranes, hydraulic power packs etc.

Full details of the Summit project, Snowdon Mountain Railway and Hunslet Engine Company can be found at: www.snowdon-summit.co.uk and www.snowdonrailway.co.uk