In Hamburg, Germany, in the middle of the warehouse district, is the city's most popular tourist attraction, Miniatur Wunderland. For the past 10 years, visitors have been able to behold 1300 square meters of meticulously appointed models of Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and America. On over 1300 square meters, and having taken over 500,000 hours to create, this model is a sight to behold!
There are eight sections connected by 13 kilometers of track with over 900 trains running "night" and day. Each day in this little world lasts 15 minutes, and once the sun sets, nightlife begins. The scope of this project is difficult to convey in words and even photographs, as the choreography of the people, the cars, the boats, and the trains truly make this little world come alive! For a great 5-minute introduction to this universe, go watch The Wonderland in 5 Minutes.
With 40 manned computers running self-developed software keeping the world moving, there has clearly been a great deal of work put into this project. By 2020, they promise to open sections depicting areas of France, Italy, England, and Africa!
I suppose I don't feel as bad for the amount of time that I put into appointing my surroundings. It sure hasn't been 500,000 hours!
Images: Frank Zarges, Miniatur Wunderland
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Miniatures are the best!
Unfortunately, Minotaur Wunderland may not be the world's largest model train layout, yet. Northlandz in Flemington, New Jersey houses a model railroad in a lartger space, 52,000 square feet, with 50,000 linear feet of HO scale track alone.
it's not Minotaur but Miniature, John ;-)
LOL this is right around my corner, and i really didn't expect to find it on AT :-)
I went there a couple of times when I lived in Hamburg and it was great! :) There's also the most amazing coffee shop/cafe/museum thing next door. http://www.speicherstadt-kaffee.de/
In fact, there are a huge number of museums and attractions in the Speicherstadt / warehouse district, it's pretty great.
I forgot to add, there are loads of brilliant little Easter eggs hidden all over the place - purple cows, mining dwarves, dragons, crime scenes, people having sex, a monk in the bushes watching a woman fix her car, aliens, building catching fire, a prison break - you find something new every time.
I grew up in Hamburg and have been to this one of the last times I went home,it is absolutely amazing !!!
And I agree the SPEICHERSTADT that surrounds this museum is a great destination when visiting Hamburg.