Germany - Halligbahnen at Wattenmeer
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This Wattenmeer area that the locals call "Halligenwelt" consists
of a couple of islands around which the sea is practically impossible to navigate. The Wattenmeer (Wadden Sea)
is very shallow and occasionally all that is there is stinking mud where it is not even possible to walk
let alone to use a boat. But the tides are tall. What looks like dry land in one moment, can be flushed by
more than a metre of water in another moment. And the North Sea is notoriously stormy and there is nothing
to stop the winds here.
Occasionally then stormy waters may flush anything that there is to float far away. And the mud is moving
all the time, so if one digs a canal in the mud it soon gets filled in again. The preferred solution
has been to build narrow gauge railroads on top of wood which either floats on top of the mud or has been dug or
planted as poles in the mud. There are two of these Halligbahnen railways in Germany now, but there are, or
have been, more on the Danish and the Netherlands side of the border.
Initially the lores - as the small vehicles are called - were driven only by wind and sails, but nowadays
most of them have small engines, often taken from lawn mowers or other similar small machines. Most are totally
open with just a platform, an engine and a bench, but the finest lores have even a heated cabin with walls and a
roof. Some even have windscreen wipers. Those are the luxury ones. Only the inhabitants and their guests are
allowed to use these railroads. Usage is "on sight" so there is no security system. But the lores have a
register plate and are insured.
The Halligbahn from Dagebüll to Oland and Langeneß
The Dagebüll to Oland and Langeneß railway has been built with a gauge width of 900mm.
This "Bobkat" is one of the largest and most advanced Halligbahn motorised lores that work at the
Dagebüll-Oland-Langeneß Halligbahn. A large part of this railroad runs over a dam now, on "dry land"
- well, at least occasionally dry. Apparently this one has been used to bring more ballast gravel to
the railway line.
Picture from Dagebüll 8.9.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Typical Halligbahn lores of private people. They consist of just a platform with wheels, a small engine,
some kind of a bench and a light so that other railroad users can see the approaching lore. The railroad
from mainland at Dagebüll to Langeneß via the island Oland is about 9 km long and the first part of it from
the mainland to the island of Oland is built on top of a dam - which has already several times been washed
away and has had to be rebuilt and to be built higher. Oland is roughly 2km long and has 17 houses plus
a church.
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Some of the finer lores with proper lights, a cabin and even a windscreen wiper :-)
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Another one of the more advanced lores. Note the twig or tree branch which has been stuck into a hole
in the lore's wheel. That is the "handbreak" so that a strong wind cannot push the lore to collide with
others when they are parked. It is of course important that neighbours can move by pushing the parked
lores to get their own lore to where the line starts. And then the "handbrakes" on again :-)
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
Four of the best lores, all parked with a twig in a hole of one of their wheels.
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
In places where the railroad does not run on top of a solid dam (for example at the connection between
Oland and Langeneß where the railroad track has been just built on top of wooden piles sticking
out of the mud) it is sometimes necessary to "plant" bunches of bushes in the mud forming a kind of a fence
on both sides of the railroad. This will at least slow down the pace with which sea wawes will wash
out the mud under the piles. But this is never ending work of course.
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
The Halligbahn railway from Dagebüll to Oland and Langeneß has two "real" locomotives. They are of course
by far heavier than private people's lores. The can only be used by authorities for rail line
maintenance or for moving exceptionally heavy goods or equipment to the houses on the islands.
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
This is the other locomotive of the line from Dagebüll to Oland and Langeneß.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A family, possibly a father and his daughter. have loaded their merchandise from their car on their lore and have now
started their ride towards the islands. First the railway climbs up and down over the tall "dyke" that
prevents storm waters from washing away soils of fields.
Picture from Dagebüll 8.7.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A train cannot be much simpler than this. A self-made lore.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A yellow lore with a real cabin has just arrived to mainland over the long dam and has climbed over the dyke.
It is now fast approaching downhill the end of the railway line by the lighthouse of Dagebüll.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A closer look at the same approaching lore.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.
And now it is parked. Note that in the meantime it has been turned around 180 degrees using the small manual turntable in Dagebüll.
In case the weather gets worse it's important to head out towards the sea with windscreen first.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.
The small lighthouse of Dagebüll marks the end of the Dagebüll to Oland and Langeneß line.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
On 5.7.2024, exactly 20 years later, the same lighthouse looks now quite different. The big windows up there are no longer for the light
of the lighthouse. Instead there is a room with a fantastic view which can be rented at a high price.
Picture from Dagebüll 5.7.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.
The Lüttmoorsiel–Nordstrandischmoor Halligbahn
The 600 mm gauge width Halligbahn from mainland at Lüttmoorsiel to the Hallig of Nordstrandischmoor
was originally a military installation. Hitler's Germany wanted to arm many of the small islands
with both air defence guns as well as coastal artillery guns to get an early warning in case the
enemy would approach from the sea. Originally this line was built already in 1933-34 from Cecilienkoog
using just field railway rails mounted on poles stuck up in the mud to Nordstrandishmoor. It was the
only way to bring heavy military equipment such as large caliber guns onto the island. Today the
line ends at the mainland side already at Lüttmoorsiel and does not continue to Cecilienkoog any more.
On the other hand the line is now built on top of a land dyke after a storm and ice totally destroyed the
earlier line in the 1950s. The dams have been strengthened and raised several times. The line was in
year 2000 3,6 km long. In comparison with the Langeneß line described above there are by far less
inhabitants at Nordstrandishmoor and therefore also by far less private lores.
This is the Nordstrandishmoor railway line coming to land from the sea. As is evident from the picture
it is now totally built on top of a dam or dyke which has been raised higher several times. The picture
shows also several other dykes built at 90 degrees angles to the line. These are to control the strong
coastal currents.
Picture from Lüttmoorsiel 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
On the mainland side of the dyke there is still a lot of water in a lake-like water pond. The line curves sharply inland
and ends then there. Compared with Dagebüll there is a lot more infrastructure and less lores here. Most cars can be parked
under cover in a modern garage hall and the two locomotives and most lores are also parked inside a hall when they are not
in use.
Picture from Lüttmoorsiel 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
When the local inhabitants of Nordstrandishmoor drive to Lüttmoorsiel and switch to their lores, most of them can now park
their cars safely under roof.
Picture from Lüttmoorsiel 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A private simple lore on the Nordstrandishmoor Halligbahn line. If you compare this one with the pictures of the simple lores of the
Langeneß line, the main difference is that at the Langeneß line the lores have no real couplings, just some old tyre or similar
softening object to prevent damages when the (parked) lores are moved by hand and may bump against others. Here at Nordstrandishmoor
it has been however considered important that any one of the lores, big or small, can take a motorless wagon with it, so it has a
"real" coupling.
Picture from Lüttmoorsiel 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A closer look at this same lore reveals that the basic components are not just a platform and any sudden neighbour's lawn mower, but presumably
this has been built on top of the underparts of an old real Feldbahn locomotive.
Picture from Lüttmoorsiel 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
A motorless but heated cabin wagon which can be pulled by any lore which has a strong enough motor.
Picture from Lüttmoorsiel 5.7.2004 by Ilkka Siissalo.
