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If cars seem difficult to negotiate, there is always the train. The electric train runs from the capital to the north of the Island with a branch going off up the mountain in the middle. This is Snaefell, and is barely classed as a mountain, being only just over the 2,000 feet necessary to be called such. In fact, it has eroded over the years and many Manx people climb up it with sacks full of stones and rocks to place at the top in an attempt to keep the one and only mountain intact.
The old Victorian steam train runs from the south to the capital and many is the trip I have taken on it with my granddaughter, rattling along on its narrow gauge through valleys and glens, up hills and down dales, whistling as it goes. The sheep in the fields alongside still run away as it approaches even though it puffs past four or more times a day. Despite the fact that the Island has become known as a financial centre and a tax haven, it is still delightfully old-fashioned and visitors feel they are being taken back in time.