PLANS to extend the Bala Lake Railway into the heart of the town bringing an ‘extra £1.5m a year into the local economy’ is well on track.

Julian Birley, chair of Bala Railway Trust, said he was thrilled to announce the track could be brought into town using the B4391 bridge as a ‘tramway’, giving passengers, in his opinion, “one of the finest views from a train anywhere in the United Kingdom”.

Originally announced in 2016, Mr Birley and his associates have been working on plans to extend the line for years, but now believe they can have the work completed by 2020.

Now the hard work has begun in earnest.

Les Symonds lives next to the development and has been keeping an eye on proceedings.

“Work has started in Bala to remove an eyesore from the town to make way for the first stage of work to run the narrow gauge railway into the town,” he said.

“This phase of the work involves the removal of an old, asbestos clad commercial building and work has started dismantling it.”