Snowdon Mountain Railway celebrates 100th anniversary of No.6 steam locomotive Padarn.

May 26, 2022

Entering service in 1922, No.6 steam locomotive Padarn enters its 100th year of service taking passengers up Snowdon, Yr Wyddfa.

Padarn is a coal-fired, steam locomotive built by the Swiss Locomotive & Manufacturing Co. of Winterthur for a cost of £3,000 (equivalent to almost £200,000 today) and was a later addition to the railway. The railway opened in 1896 and Padarn was added to the fleet six years later in 1922. Allegedly the locomotive was a demonstrator engine for Winterhur and had been used on another railway in Switzerland before it arrived at Snowdon Mountain Railway in Llanberis. The locomotive was originally called Sir Harmood, named after the then chairman of Snowdon Mountain Railway, Sir John Sutherland Harmood-Banner, but was later renamed Padarn in 1928 after the lower lake in Llanberis, Llyn Padarn.

To celebrate this momentous occasion the railway invited local school children from Ysgol Dolbadarn to ride in a heritage carriage powered by the 100-year-old Padarn. Many of the children were experiencing a ride on the railway for the very first time and thoroughly enjoyed the journey up the mountain to Clogwyn.