Great Orme Tramway

Great Orme Tramway
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	Llandudno, Wales
Coordinates	53°19′56″N 3°51′16″W / 53.3321°N 3.8544°W / 53.3321; -3.8544
Stations	3 open + 3 disused[1]: 9
Service
Type	Funicular
Operator(s)	Conwy County Borough Council
Depot(s)	Halfway Station depot
History
Opened	1902
Technical
Number of tracks	Single track with passing loop
Track gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Operating speed	5 mph (8 km/h) running speed[1]: 9
Route map Legend Summit Complex passing loop St Tudno's Road Halfway (interchange) interlaced track passing loop Old Road (street running) Victoria

The Great Orme Tramway (Welsh: Tramffordd y Gogarth) is a cable-hauled 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge tramway in Llandudno in north Wales. Open seasonally from late March to late October, it takes over 200,000 passengers each year from Llandudno Victoria Station to just below the summit of the Great Orme headland. From 1932 onwards it was known as the Great Orme Railway, reverting to its original name in 1977.^[2][3]

It is Great Britain's only remaining cable-operated street tramway, and one of only a few surviving in the world, and it is owned by Conwy County Borough Council. The line comprises two sections, where each section is an independent funicular and passengers change cars at the Halfway station. Whilst the upper section runs on its own right of way and is similar to many other funicular lines, the lower section is an unusual street-running funicular.

Whilst the street running section resembles the better-known San Francisco cable cars, its operation is quite different in that it adheres to the funicular principle where the cars are permanently fixed to the cable and are stopped and started by stopping and starting the cable, unlike San Francisco where cars attach to, and detach from, a continuously running cable. As such, this section's closest relatives are Lisbon's Glória, Bica, and Lavra street funiculars.