Llandudno is a classic example of the Victorian British seaside resort. It's broad sweep of sands between the Ormes invited development as a promenade. The building of the pier in 1876, at almost exactly the high point of British pier building (Mickleburgh, 1979, p.5), brought an influx of visitors from Liverpool and beyond by steamers, including the St. Tudno, St. Seriol and St. Trillo which ran on untill about 1970 (Price, 1997, p.123). This May the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society's M.V. Balmoral re-created this experience. These crowds were swelled by the railways and provided eager customers for local transport systems. The Edwardian period was the apogee of Llandudno's development and saw the construction of an interurban tramway between Llandudno and Colywn Bay in 1907, which was short sightedly closed down only in 1956. It's last days are evocatively illustrated in Geoff Price's (1997), well illustrated book. The memory of this system is kept alive by the The Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Tramway Society, who are rebuilding a typical tramcar, No.7. However, the most significant and still existant monument to Edwardian engineering is still going, although only just! that is the Great Orme Tramway.

The tramway starts from the 1904 Victoria Tram station, named after a hotel demolished prior to it's construction rather than the frequently eponymous Queen! Only a single track then rises up through the narrow streets of old Llandudno, with it's track and embedded cable run, before sweeping round to it's own separate bed parallell with the road. It is at this point that it reaches a set of crossover points and splits into an up and down line. This is a common feature of long cable run systems. It reduces the cost of construction by greatly reducing the amount of double track, which is needed in order to separate the two cables and prevent mutual cable abrasion and entanglement during crossover and general running. Only a single car and hence cable is ever on the lower half at any one time. The total route mileage is 1.11 miles, of which 1.05m is single track and only 0.06 double (Anderson 1983, p. 19). This section was built first and opened in 1902. It now terminates at a sequence of sheds known literally as Halfway Station, where there is the electric, previously steam (1957), winding engine. Passengers must dismount to walk to the the upper section, which was completed in 1903. This is more truly a funicular, as the two balanced cars are pulled up a similar track arrangement to the lower half, but this time using normal, surface rails on sleepers, and surface mounted cable running over rollers, rather than in channels as with the lower road section. The central crossover points is where the collision occurred on the 30th April, which injured 17 people. The top terminal is in a station attached to what is now the Great Orme Country Park Visitor's centre.

When my wife and I visited, (14-17th August), the lower section had just had a break down, whilst the upper part, as previously mentioned, had been out of action since April. The latter was as the result of a collision, caused by a problem with points. The tramway has been closed, while an investigation conducted by the Health and Safety Executive takes place. Thus the whole tramway was out of action during the course of our visit. This is a disgusting state of affairs, for what is the height of the holiday season. It would appear to me that without an active independent support group it could well be permanently closed, particularly if the council cannot fund the safety improvements the H. & S. Exec. will undoubtedly recommend before it can fully re-open. It would be a disaster if this system should cease to operate only a couple of years away from it's centenary. The following account therfore only records the stationary trams and their setting. For pictures of the trams in operation, I would recommend Simon Robinson's site, with it's action views of the Great Orme trams and Dewi Williams' site, where there are some historic 1952 B&W pictures of the original installation in use.

From mid road, the single track curves over towards it's own independant line

Single track, with cable channel now running parallell with the road

Bottom crossover point and switch to twin line, with shared middle track or interlaced. This layout is required to separate the cables, as on the lower section, they connect centrally to the drawbar on the cars.

A view of double track lower section.

Car 4 in the tram shed at the top of the lower track section.
Note the single track, as only a single car is drawn up into the shed at the end of the day (Anderson 1983, p. 18).

The tram sheds at Halfway Station!

Car 6 in the tram shed at the bottomof the upper track section.

The inside of Car 6 in the tram shed.

The cable attachment mechanism of Car 6 and the rollers separating the two cables.

The single rail of the top section stretches off up the hill, notice the cable separation/tensioning rollers and the slack cable with the line out of action.

The evening of the 16th and a view of the top of Great Orme.
Near right the trig point, more distant the tram station, Hotel and Cable car terminus (out of action the whole time we were there, due to high winds!).

The morning of the 17th and a quick trip view of the top of Great Orme before leaving for London.
The top tram station

Car 7, picture taken through a south facing window of the tram station.

An evocative sign on the inside wall of the tram station, showing it's last operational date!