Szeneries of the "Amrumer Inselbahn" (island railway)

Main roads
Side roads
Field and forest tracks
Hiking and plank trails
Island railway routes
Plank roadway for
horse-drawn vehicles
At the island of Amrum, lying within the North Sea in the south of Sylt and in the west of Föhr, there was an island railway from 1893 to 1939, which firstly connected the spa of Wittdün at the island's south cape with the open sea on the other side of the "Kniepsand", a natural bank of sand lying in the west of the island and partially being more than 1 km wide. Since 1909, the island railway additionally connected the island villages Süddorf, Nebel and Norddorf. Since the island railway was shut down, the "Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei" (WDR, shipping company), offering the ferry service between Dagebüll at the continent, Wyk at Föhr and Wittdün at Amrum, handles also the line traffic over the island with busses.

In the past 60 years, all clues to the island railway are completely disappeared - except the railway station hotel at Nebel, which is still existing today (2005). But if the former railtracks are combined with the road and path network from today, as shown in the drawing at the left, certain paths can be identified as tracks from the former island railway.

See also the chronology table and the vehicles site.
The BahnLand sceneries, presented on this site and based on landscape photographies from the present time (2001 and 2003), are only able in a restricted degree to illustrate the island railway operation from that era, because the landscape (Kniepsand (the sandbank), dunes, forest, heath, buildings and path network) has been changed strongly in the intermediate decades. This can be recognized exceptionally by considering the former railway network as an overlay to the actual contour of the island from around 2000: The former beach stations at the south part of Amrum would lie within the North Sea, whereas the piers near Norddorf would be shoaled. Nevertheless, at least those landscape scenarios, where the trains really passed through, illustrate, how the railway scene from that time might have looked.

The original photos (small pictures) are only added in these cases, where the BahnLand scenario shows only a partial view from it. Apart from preparing the foreground section, the landscape pictures used for BahnLand remained unchanged. Only the "Kniepsand" scenario had to be completed by a track line, because this could not be hided by the foreground as done with all other scenarios.
Kniepsand railway near the Wriakhörn


H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
Dune valley between camping ground and Kniepsand


Beginning at the end from the boardwalk, coming from Wittdün, there is a footway through a dune valley which runs parallel to the dune border. The path ends at the plank path crossing the dunes from the official camping ground to the Kniepsand (the plank path is seen at the lower or right side part of the pictures on the left).

The little lake seen at the upper picture from summer 2001 is nearly dried up within the lower picture from 2003.

Considering the floor plan above, the Kniepsand railway should be run along the chain of dunes in the background, until it was relocated in 1909.
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
All photos: © Hans-Martin Hebsaker
The footway shown in the both pictures below was formerly the Kniepsand railway line (see the floor plan above). But the BahnLand line installed to the picture thereunder is not derived from the former reality, because its direction is rotated by 90 degrees. But it shows a scenario, which might describe a valid crossing of the dunes shortly before the wide Kniepsand is reached.
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
Dune valley in the north of Wittdün with view to the lighthouse
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
Kniepsand near Wittdün

This was once the scenery, how the Kniepsand railway leaved the dunes. Indeed, the location of the photography is too south.

On the other hand, one can see the silhouette from Wittdün upside the beach and the Halligs within the sea at the background of the picture.
Island railway to the lighthouse
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
View over the heath to the main road and the lighthouse
Standing on the field path in the south of the "Vogelkoje" from Wittdün (historic wild duck catch, today only a little lake) and looking to the west, one can see this scenery with heath in the foreground, dunes in the background (near the official camping ground), and the lighthouse in the right. Between the dunes and the heath the main road is crossing, running from Wittdün to Süddorf. This road was originally the island railway track. Therefore, this BahnLand scenario may be used for playing the railway traffic as well as for running busses and automobiles.
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
View from the lighthouse to the main road within the forest and to the wadden sea
From the balcony around the lighthouse, there is a wonderful panorama view over the island and the surrounding sea, if the weather is clear. In the east, the main road to Süddorf passes. Here, the official bikeway through the forest diverges, leading to Norddorf along the "Satteldüne" and the second "Vogelkoje" near Norddorf (see the way to down left within the picture). But the forest didn't exist with this opulence 90 years ago. The bikeway part from here to the crossroad at Nebel was exactly the former railway line (shortly before reaching the triangular junction).

The left side picture below shows the main road (the former railway line) in south direction, and the pier of Wittdün in the background. Going left from the main road's double bend in the middle of the picture, the position will be reached, where the next but one photo above was made, which shows the heath in the foreground and the lighthouse at the right.

The right side photo with view to the open sea was also made from the top of the lighthouse, whose shadow can be just seen in the right lower corner of the picture. The furrow, which goes through the dunes from the lower right to the upper left, might have been the line of the new Kniepsand railway from 1909, which leaved the island railway line to Süddorf immediately after the lighthouse was passed, and which was in use until 1939 (i.e. until 60 years ago; see the floor plan above). The vertical profile of the Kniepsand railway was certainly somewhat smoother.
The island railway around Norddorf

H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
View from the dunes to Norddorf


Across the dunes in the south of Norddorf, the island railway leaded down to the pier at the former "Kniephafen" (please consider the strand contours from the chronology table.

Here, the railway line can be followed only partly along the today's hiking trails. However, the scenery of a passing island train might have looked like the pictures shown at the left hand side.
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
 

H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
View from the Norddorf marsh to the Risum dyke


Because there was a hole in the chain of dunes in the west of the marsh of Norddorf, the marsh grassland was permanently at the mercy of the inconvenience of the North Sea. When the Risum dyke was built in 1913, the island railway line, crossing the Risum hole since 1909, was elevated. Therefore, the upper scenery should conform to the former location of the island railway.

In contrast to this, the line shown in the lower picture is imaginary. But the topography of this landscape invited me to "create" a BahnLand railway line at the level of the marsh grassland.
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
Island railway between heath, forest and dunes



H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
Between the heath and the forest


In the reality, the landscapes shown by the 3 pictures at the left didn't see any island railway train. The upper 2 pictures are made in the heath between Nebel and Norddorf far away from the locations of the former island railway. The landscape at the lower picture lies near the northern "Vogelkoje" (historic wild duck catch, fully conserved, but not in action). Anyhow, there were locations in the 1920s and 1930s, where the island railway really crossed such sceneries:

In front of the spa hotel "Satteldüne", the railtrack separated the forest and the heath areas.
The forest in the east of the lighthouse, which is passed by the main road today, didn't exist in the early island railway years. Instead of that, the railtrack separated the heath areas in the east from the dunes in the west. The picture is slightly similar to that from above, showing the lighthouse, which was photographed near the southern "Vogelkoje".


H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
Between the heath and the dunes
Wadden sea near Steenodde
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
View to east direction across the wadden sea against the island Föhr
H.-M. Hebsaker
2005-10-04
View to south direction across the wadden sea against the "pearl necklet" of the Halligs
There was never an island railway line to or around Steenodde. But also the topographies of these 2 pictures have me invited to create a BahnLand railway line in each case.