DEDICATED volunteers have been continuing their restoration work at Bala Lake Railway throughout January.

As part of the group's winter maintenance project, members have been out in all weathers relaying tracks - a process which they say is now complete.

However, they added that some levelling work is still set to be done and therefore a speed restriction will be in place for a while.

The first public trains set to run over the renewed piece of track will do so over February half term.

In 2018, the group had been taking on 'working weekends' at the site to help improve facilities and the overall look of the station, as well as its carriages and its tracks.

Some of the work carried out includes carriage and sign painting and chopping down trees and bushes to clear the tracks.

Speaking on the importance of the work the volunteers do for the Railway, a spokesperson for the BLR said: "Bearing in mind the fact that we only have three full-time staff members here, we are indebted to our loyal band of volunteers who achieve so much and in all weathers.

"Throughout all this, the humour persists, as does the large amount of tea and flapjacks consumed.

"Credit goes to all who come to help the railway in the often bleak mid-winter months which is when, in the eyes of many, the bulk of the hard work gets done.

"We refer of course to the Working Weekends and the Wednesday Gang. Our intrepid teams have been beavering away at not only cropping trees and keeping the foliage at bay, but also the laborious task of major carriage refurbishment."

In February 16 and 17, the volunteer group will be making further improvements to the tracks and in March they expect to start working on the Llangower passing loop.