The Snowdon Mountain Railway opened this day in 1896.
* The railway runs from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon.
* A railway to the summit was first proposed in 1869 when Llanberis was linked to Caernarfon by the London & North Western Railway.
* The total cost of the railway was £63,800 (£5,474,000 equivalent in 2013)
* On the official opening one of the locomotives ran out of control and fell down the mountain. A passenger died from loss of blood after jumping from the carriage.
* After the Second World War the shortage of coal led to the railway attempting to burn old army boots as fuel.
* A new visitor centre, 'Hafod Eryri', was officially opened by First Minister Rhodri Morgan on 12 June 2009.
* The journey takes an hour to reach the summit and an hour to descend again with an average speed of five miles an hour.
* Swiss engineers were employed as advisors in the planning, as they were the only ones who had significant experience in building this type of railway.
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