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Diggers are being used to clear snow drifts from the railway track up Snowdon in a bid to reopen the summit visitor centre and cafe in May.
The building, Hafod Eryri, is always shut over the harsh winter months but this time workers admit the clear-up is even harder than usual.
After the digger shifts the snow, a blower is used to remove the last icy traces.
The new improved ^8.4m Hafod Eryri building opened in June last year.
Doug Blair, the senior engineering manager with the Snowdon Railway, said the clear-up this year was "a challenge". "It is work which has to be done very carefully along the edge of the Clogwyn cliff face," he said. "Once we use the excavator to clear the snow we then have to blow the snow out of the rack and if any bad weather reappears, and there's more snow, it ruins everything we've done," he said.
The object was to open Hafod Eryri in "one swoop", he added. "Then if the building is cut off it can survive on its own for a bit," he said.
Apart from the snow the track can also be damaged by ice and frost, he added. "I sometimes look at people who run railways on the flat and think they have it easy", he said.
The target is to reopen Hafod Eryri by early May, according to Jonathan Tyler the railway company's marketing manager. "Many people have been inquiring about going to the summit and hopefully the weather will be okay," he said.
John Ifor Jones has worked for the railway for 30 years, and he said conditions had been "pretty bad" this year. "We come prepared, with plenty of clothing, and you get used to working here," he said. "Drifts can get up to 15 feet deep. We need plenty of sunshine, and also rain and mist which eats away at the snow," he added.

Snowdon Mountain Railway has started taking delivery of new carriages for the first time since the current ones were introduced in the 1920s.

The first arrived on Monday and three others will take their place before the railway - which takes passengers to the Snowdon summit - reopens in the spring.

General manager Alan Kendall said they offered extra comfort and enabled more passengers to be carried when required.

The Welsh government has provided funding towards the total ^1.2m cost.

"The existing carriages have had lots of additions in terms of repairs and glass, and they date from around 1923," said Mr Kendall. "They have been kept in service since that point. The four new ones carry 74 passengers instead of 56 and that will look after demand for the majority of the year. We can carry people in more comfort with better visibility and they can feel a bit warmer or cooler [depending on the temperature]."

He said the new carriages would be used with diesel locomotives, which power the majority of passengers to the summit. However, he said the old carriages would continue to operate with the steam service.

Sunday was the last day that the railway will run this year as it closes for winter. It will reopen, complete with the new Derbyshire-built carriages, in mid to late March depending on the weather.

"It's fantastic. It's a big thing for me personally because this has been a long time in the making," said Mr Kendall. "I've been with the business for about 10 years. You come in and identify what needs to be done and with the age of the rolling stock, that was a big priority for me."

He said that along with the opening of the new visitor centre in June 2009, it would help give the business a "sustainable future".

"We're building a carriage for this century really but paying due respect to what's gone before. It's going to be in keeping with that," he said. "Welsh tourism is about improving quality pretty much everywhere and that's what we're trying to do."

There is also Llanberis Lake railway if you are looking for a third "attraction".

I have coupled a visit to the Railway with a trip round the Dinorwic Power Station which is built inside a mountain at Llanberis.   I used the bus from Bangor to get to the village and stayed at the Royal Victoria Hotel.

There is also Llanberis Lake railway if you are looking for a third "attraction".

https://snowdonrailway.co.uk . One of these years ... I really must take a trip on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.   Rather put off by the £29 return fare on a "traditional" diesel service of £37 for a stream return trip of under 5 miles each way and the lack of encouragement on their plan-your-visit page ( https://snowdonrailway.co.uk/plan-your-visit/ ) to get there by anything other than car.

How long has it taken for the diesel service to become a "tradition" anyway - what does traditional actually mean in this case?

The coaches are somewhat traditional, but look "foreign" in some hard to define way. Very suitable though.

Vince Hughes, Snowdon Mountain Railway’s Commercial Manager, said: “There’s always a sense of real excitement as we reopen, Hafod Eryri, the summit building, for the summer season on Snowdon, but this 10th anniversary year feels even more special.

Daily steam and diesel services to the top of Wales’ highest mountain are scheduled to resume from Monday, April 22nd, weather permitting. The first train will be hauled by a steam engine and will depart from Llanberis at 9.30am.

SMR recently announced its ambitious plan to replace its existing diesel locomotives with new hybrid diesel rolling stock, with each hybrid engine including an 8-tonne battery pack and a diesel generator to recharge batteries in service.

Further fixed battery chargers for overnight charging of the units are also planned.

Plans are yet to be finalised, but SMR plan to operate at Llanberis entirely on battery power, operate the generator charging on the uphill journey, turn off the generator on the downhill journey and use the regenerative braking to recharge the battery packs

From Rail Technology Magazine (http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/snowdon-mountain-railway-hybrid-diesel-locomotives)

We've been busy commissioning our new #hybrid locomotives since they arrived a few weeks ago. Here's No.14 Glaslyn complete with new 12-seater passenger pod.

The @ClaytonEquipltd loco uses both battery and the latest low emission Diesel engine going up, then electric regeneration braking going down with the engine switched off