Tables Free

No customers sitting outside at the Consti Cafe this lunchtime - too cold, despite the sunshine.

I wandered up there looking for any signs of the mysterious "Switchback railway" (i.e. roller-coaster) which I noticed on a map from 1905. I'd never heard of this before and it appeared to have run down the hill on the East side (more or less opposite to the funicular railway that is still there today). An enquiry to the Ceredigion Museum elicited the following information: "There was a switchback railway on Constitution Hill. It was run by the :ABERYSTWYTH SWITCHBACK RAILWAY AND WATER CHUTE COMPANY which was in existence from 1902-1909". A quick search on the Web revealed that this was "a wholly local venture with nominal capital of only £400". There is no sign of the switchback today, not surprisingly perhaps.

I've no idea why I'm interested in all this - but I am!