The line is a piece of non-public railway infrastructure owned by the state of Schleswig-Holstein and operated by the State Department for Coastal Defence, National Parks and Marine Conservation (Landesbetrieb für Küstenschutz, Nationalpark und Meeresschutz) or LKN-SH – formerly the Office for Rural Regions (Amt für ländliche Räume).

The 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge railway was built in 1933/1934 from Cecilienkoog over a pile-supported embankment to Nordstrandischmoor in order to transport construction material for the sea defences of the hallig.

In 2000, a new, paved Lorendamm embankment was built, which can now be worked largely independently of the tide table and is only impassable when there is a storm surge.

Some of the stock belongs to the State Department for Coastal Defence and National Parks.

This differs from the usual use of the German railway term Lore or Güterlore which refers to a tipper wagon.