The Great Orme Tramway is the UK's only surviving cable-operated street tramway and one of only three remaining in the world. It is a street funicular, where the cars are permanently fixed to the cable and are stopped, started and regulated solely by the speed of the cable.
The railway was opened for passengers on 31 July 1902. It has a gauge of 1067mm and runs between Llandudno and the summit of the Great Orme in two sections, each some 750m long, and passengers change cars at the Halfway Station. The lower terminus of the line is at Victoria Station (NGR: SH 77844 82718) in Llandudno, from where the lower section climbs to the Halfway Station on a maximum gradient of 1 in 4; the upper section, opened in 1903 and with a maximum gradient of 1 in 10, connects Halfway Station and the Summit Station (NGR: SH 76593 83305).
Prior to the recent introduction of radio control, the cars' trolley poles were used to maintain a telegraph link with the controller at the halfway winding house, which was powered by steam until conversion to electrical operation in 1958.
Source: Great Orme Tramway Company.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 19 May 2008.