Children with ’time enough’ on their hands are being encouraged to take part in an arts and literature competition based around the island’s steam railway.

The new tourist website www.timeenough.im has teamed up with children’s author Christopher Vine, the Family Library and the Isle of Man Steam Railway to find the best short story written about a train.

The organiser of the competition, Christina Corkill, from www.timeenough.im said that kids could write about their ideal holiday or trip.

’We thought that, as families across the island won’t be able to travel to go on holiday or use the island’s railway this year, children can use their imaginations instead to travel to where they like,’ said Christina.

’We thought it would be nice if the children could create a virtual journey and design the train to take us there.

’It is also a way of keeping the Manx railway alive in the minds of children while they are unable to run this year.’

The writing competition is open to local children aged up to 14 years old, with children aged five to seven years old asked to write a story of no more than 400 words and older children up to the age of 14 to write no more than 500 words.

There is also a separate competition to design your own train, open to children aged between four to seven and eight to 10 years old.

The competitions will be judged by Christopher Vine, the writer behind the ’Peter’s Railway’ series of books.

Christopher shares many links with the island and often travels to hold workshops with children.

He was due to travel to the island this year before the borders closed.

There are many prizes on offer, ranging from a chance to drive the diesel train simulator to a model of one of the Manx family of steam trains.

The deadline to enter the competition closes on Monday, July 6, with the winners being announced on July 10.

More information, including inspiration and hints and tips on getting started, as well as details on how to enter the competition, can be found at www.timeenough.im