Over the years I've been making videos, lots of people have suggested
that I should see the Hallig islands in Germany.
Mostly because of the tiny trains.
Every few years,
some media outlet does a story about how the people who live out on the islands
have their own personal trains to get them to and from the mainland.
And yes, I'm going to talk about those,
but the story here is way more interesting than that.
Although yes, the best way to get to some of the Hallig islands from the mainland
is on board tiny trains.
And the railway staff here are going to let me take a ride.
IN GERMAN:
But there's a bigger question: why is there a tiny railroad here?
Who builds a railroad instead of just... a road?
If you're building sea defenses in the 1930s
and you need to get a load of heavy material across a tidal flat,
well, rail is your most efficient option.
And to understand why they need those defenses,
we need to take a look at the bigger picture.
But unfortunately
I'm not allowed to fly a drone here because this is a wildlife reserve.
If you look at aerial images, you can see that the whole of this area,
the North German coast, is protected by these barrier islands.
This area is the Wadden Sea, hundreds of kilometers of sandbars and mudflats
that act as a natural wave break and storm defense.
That's what they were boosting with the earthworks here.
Manage these islands correctly,
you'll protect all the cities on the mainland from flooding.
Plus, people have lived on these islands for centuries now.
They'll happily take the storm defense for themselves.
And the free railroad that comes with it.
One of the problems with living on what's basically a bit of sea defense
is that you're going to be the one that gets flooded.
These islands go mostly underwater 50 or 60 times a year, usually in winter.
The local term for it translates as "land under".
The houses are up on mounds to protect them, and they're built high
enough for now. But one of the reasons that the railway is still in regular use
is that it's still helping to build the sea defenses.
It seems strange to describe an island as something
that needs to be kept healthy, but yeah, that's why the railway's here.
Yes, the locals have their own trains.
Very rarely, if they're staying on the island, tourists can ride too.
And it looks quirky and interesting.
But the reason behind it is to stop these islands,
and eventually the mainland, being flooded by rising seas.