Thursday, February 10, 2011

Worlds Largest Train Set, the "Miniatur Wunderland" in Hamburg, Germany

This is the worlds largest train set,  and it is totally amazing.

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Two German brothers put this TRAIN SET together.

DON'T FORGET to click on the link at the end and view this in motion.
This is the world's biggest train set.
Covers 1,150 square meters / 12,380 square feet…
Features almost six miles of track and is still not complete…

Twin brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun, 41, began work on the 'Miniatur Wunderland' in 2000.

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The set covers six regions including America, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany, and the Austrian Alps.

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The American section features giant models of the Rocky Mountains, Everglades, Grand Canyon etc…

...and Mount Rushmore.
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The Swiss section has a mini-Matterhorn. 

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The Scandinavian part has a 4ft long passenger ship floating in a 'fjord'.

It is expected to be finished in 2014, when the train set would cover more than 1,800 square meters / (19,376 sq ft) and feature almost 13 miles of track, by which time detailed models of parts of France, Italy and the UK would have been added…

It comprises 700 trains with more than 10,000 carriages and wagons.

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The longest train is 46ft long.

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The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings, 4,000 cars - many with illuminated headlights.. . 

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...and 160,000 individually designed figures.

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Thousands of kilograms of steel and wood was used to construct the scenery... 

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The 250,000 lights are rigged up to a system that mimics night and day by automatically turning them on and off. 

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The whole system is controlled from a massive high-tech nerve centre.

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In total the set has taken 500,000 hours and more than 8 million euro to put together,
the vast majority of which has come from ticket sales.

Gerrit said: "Our idea was to build a world that men, women, and children can be equally astonished and amazed in."

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Frederik added: "Whether gambling in Las Vegas, hiking in the Alps or paddling in Norwegian fjords - in Wunderland everything is possible. "This 4-minute video is worth watching for this amazing stuff.

<http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/exhibit/video/4-minutes-wunderland/>
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About Hamburg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg

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Today:

As I didn't go shopping yesterday, because of the slick roads, I used this dry, cold, non-working day to get it done. 
When I took Dee's (http://tumbleweed-jimdee.blogspot.com/) orange peeler to the Post Office to mail it, I found out that it was a good thing I didn't just stick it in an envelope, and stick a stamp on it, and let it go.  Any time there is something other than a flat piece of paper in it, it has to go Parcel Post.  Who knew!
It sure took the van a long time to warm up this morning, and it didn't really warm it up until it sat outside Krogers in the sun.    I prefer our hot, humid Summers to this.  Maybe I need to be a Snowbird, as I am so tired of Winter!

Jay, my helper, has flu or something, so I went by myself today.

7 comments:

Tumbleweed Dee said...

Thank you so very much. I never knew that either! I guess it won't run thru the address reader of the machines. Dee

Dizzy-Dick said...

When I was a very young boy, back over 60 years ago, my parents took me to "Tiny Town" which was a like the German one but at a lot smaller scale. Not the scale of the RR and buildings, but the over all size.

Gypsy said...

Who else but the Germans would have the patience to create something like this! It's beautiful, and thank you for the link.

KarenInTheWoods said...

That railroad is just totally fascinating!

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LakeConroePenny,TX said...

Thanks for your comments, Dee and Dizzy Dick.

Dizzy-Dick: Was that Tiny Town in Hot Springs, AR?

LakeConroePenny,TX said...

Thank you for your comments, Gypsy and Sandra.

I hoped it would be of enjoyment for my readers.
It hadn't been built when I was in Hamburg.

pidge said...

That is just breath-taking. Every tiny detail is just perfect. Thank you so much Penny for sharing this with us.