
Tiny Trains: Neat Narrow-Gauge Rail Connects German Island to Mainland - misnamed
https://weburbanist.com/2018/05/08/tiny-trains-neat-narrow-gauge-rail-connects-german-island-to-mainland/
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TipVFL
The neatest part of this article was the fact that these trains used to
operate by sail. It's a strange image to imagine but it makes a lot of sense
for an incredibly windy area with rails.

My uncle is actually a tiny train enthusiast. He bought really old schematics
for a full-size steam powered locomotive and scaled them down, machining every
little piece from blocks of metal.

He has been working on it for 20+ years; he originally planned for his
grandchildren to get to play with it but they're all adults now. Maybe it will
be ready in time for his great grandchildren.

~~~
gowld
NSTAAF talks about sail trains on

[https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/flavio-briatore-3/no-
such-t...](https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/flavio-briatore-3/no-such-thing-
as-a-fish/e/51414013)

(@14minutes)

~~~
rhizome
For those like me who tried to google this, the term of art is "sail bogey."
"sail train" gets you a bunch of travel agencies.

~~~
vermontdevil
Good tip!

There's a wiki page on this:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail_bogey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail_bogey)

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tomcam
What is it about guys and trains? I reflexively upvoted before even reading
the article, and after reading the article, I realize it is a pretty standard
narrow gauge railroad. Don’t care! Would vote again if I could!

~~~
twic
I think it's nerds and trains, rather than guys and trains. I know at least
one woman who is pretty excited about trains too, and she is a colossal dork.

EDIT: and what it is about nerds and trains is that trains are _wicked sweet_.

~~~
dalore
Trains are like an information network you can see in action.

~~~
twic
For me it's this. I am actually pretty indifferent to _trains_. But i am
fascinated by _railways_.

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Odenwaelder
I'm german but I've never ever heard of neither the island, nor the trains.
How remarkable!

~~~
ktpsns
German north is really very different from German south.

~~~
mhd
Not as much if you compare urban to urban parts and rural to rural ones.
Frisian island folk and the inhabitants of remote Alpine valleys have more in
common with each other than both do with Hamburg or Stuttgart.

~~~
FearNotDaniel
Though they may have some difficulty understanding each other, the dialects
are so significantly different.

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parliament32
Private train cars are the most interesting part. I wonder how signaling
works? Does each house/"station" have its own fork in the tracks for getting
their private train car home?

~~~
Someone
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lüttmoorsiel-
Nordstrandischm...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lüttmoorsiel-
Nordstrandischmoor_island_railway) has a schematic of the track.

Looking at the map, it seems there are only two endpoints to the line on the
island.

On the other hand,
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordstrandischmoor](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordstrandischmoor)
claims there are only 4 households on the island, so even assuming each has
its separate fork, “each house” isn’t that much.

I wonder what system they have to prevent the two locomotives from meeting
each other half-way through and to get one of the locomotives to a home when
needed.

~~~
woodpanel
I've seen a couple of documentaries about how the inhabitants use that system.
Though I forgot wether they have some signaling system, they do have passing
loops (which they operate by driving there, getting out and manually perform
the switch).

Also since the area is 100% flat eyesight should be enough.

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m4rtink
While in Japan last summer, we rode the Kurobe Gorge Railway deep into the
Japanese Alps. It's a 762 mm narrow gauge railway, originally build as
industrial railway for dam construction, but now open to the public. It goes
through 42 tunnels and on the crazy steep sides of the deep V shaped Kurobe
Gorge. It was a really nice trip - breathtaking views & nice outdoor hot
springs to bathe in. :)

Some links:
[http://www.kurotetu.co.jp/en/railway/index.html](http://www.kurotetu.co.jp/en/railway/index.html)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeo7Qxw88P4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeo7Qxw88P4)

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jws
I was envisioning a little village of houses with trains, but peeking from the
satellites, it looks like one fork and only one guesthouse has rail service
(Familie Siefert - Hallig Nordstrandischmoor). There seem to be a couple of
guesthouses, a "Glockenturm" which is a school/church servicing three
students, and one private house on the island.

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theoh
There are a couple of significant and actually, physically, miniature 15"
gauge steam railways in the UK. I say a couple because the Ravenglass and
Eskdale Railway (Cumbria) and the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (Kent)
are the preeminent ones.

They both served as genuine forms of transport at various points in their
histories.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney,_Hythe_and_Dymchurch_Ra...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romney,_Hythe_and_Dymchurch_Railway)

~~~
flyinghamster
North Wales has several ~2 foot gauge steam railways as well, though they're
not exactly "miniature."

Ffestiniog Railway from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Porthmadog, and Welsh Highland
Railway from Porthmadog to Caernarfon:
[http://www.festrail.co.uk/](http://www.festrail.co.uk/)

Talyllyn Railway from Tywyn Wharf to Nant Gwernol:
[https://www.talyllyn.co.uk/](https://www.talyllyn.co.uk/)

~~~
peteri
I'm always amazed that the Ffestiniog engines were built just around the
corner from where I live at the Hatcham Iron Works on Pomeroy street in New
Cross, London. It seems unbelievable that you would setup a locomotive works
so near to central London.

[https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/England_Engines](https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/England_Engines)

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riazrizvi
Can't this inspire the future of automated driving? Paint strips on the
freeway optimized for visual-recognition systems, to serve as super cheap
railway tracks. Super cheap because painted strips are far cheaper than laying
tracks, and they would lower the cost of the visual recognition systems in
cars. These automated driving sections would satisfy my principal pain point
with driving, which is long commutes or drives on the freeway.

~~~
alorimer
Existing lane markings serve the same purpose, just with a slight offset.
They're actually a lot better because there are usually two. But of course
driving is a lot more complicated than just staying in your lane.

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the_mitsuhiko
This reminds me of Austria's Reisseck-Hoehenbahn which sadly closed down a few
years ago. It was a 600mm narrow gauge train high up in the mountains
originally used for the construction of a power plant.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7XrOfSNdO4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7XrOfSNdO4)

~~~
gtycomb
Thank you. A remarkably clear youtube video. I wonder what kind of camera/lens
was used.

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vram22
This reminds me of the Ooty toy train. Despite the name, it's not a toy, but a
meter gauge train that goes between the plains and the hill station of Ooty /
Udhagamandalam, in Tamil Nadu, a state in South India. Moves quite slowly.
Good fun riding it. I've been on it years ago.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilgiri_Mountain_Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilgiri_Mountain_Railway)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway)

Images of it:

[https://www.google.co.in/search?q=ooty+toy+train+images](https://www.google.co.in/search?q=ooty+toy+train+images)

~~~
fooker
There are several like it in India. Here are a few others I enjoyed very much:

Neral -> Matheran.

Kalka -> Shimla.

Siliguri -> Darjeeling

~~~
vram22
Neat, didn't know of those, thanks.

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Erwin
You can ride an underground tiny train in London -- what used to be used for
postal mail delivery (Mail Rail)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCsKUNIspW8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCsKUNIspW8)

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tobylane
Mildly related: The bus replacement rail service -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WHmETKW72E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WHmETKW72E)

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jancs
There's a rather good documentary about it here
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3XI-4wfYxI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3XI-4wfYxI)
(in German, unfortunately), for anyone interested in how it operates.

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8bitsrule
Hey! With something (modernized) like that, you could ride in the suburbs to
mass transit ... and leave the car at home.

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hguhghuff
They look ready to fall over.

