Siberia's spectacular Lake Baikal, the deepest freshwater lake on the planet and an ecological wonder of the world, now has its own lakeside railroad to take tourists into its wilderness.

A train service first inaugurated 100 years ago and neglected for the last half-century has resumed its leisurely way up and down part of the western shore.

The Trans-Siberian branch-line, closed down by the Soviets in 1954, has come back to life in a post-communist Russia more and more alive to the possibilities of tourism in this once no-go area.

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