A long standing wish was to visit Hamburg, Miniaturwunderland, which claims to be the world's largest modelrailway. Entering retirement was a good excuse to go there with two dear friends.
1 Miniaturwunderland (well the name is self-explanatory even for anglophones) is housed in a former harbour warehouse that has been converted after the city harbours lost their original purpose.
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4 The first to meet our eye was the control centre where all operations are controlled and monitored. I guess error handling is also part of the job.
5 Middle Germany is the oldest part of the display
6 Arminius is a legendary figure who, imaginary or not, defeated the Roman army, allegedly in the Teutoburg Forest (although the place is disputed) in 9 AD. Read more on: WikiPedia. For who has been in the area this scene is instantly recognisable. My wife and I actually walked on the rim of the pedestal, which offers a breathtaking view over the surrounding hills.
7 Miniaturwunderland is based on Märklin's three rail AC system, probably because it is the most reliable and robust system.
8 Three characteristics of Miniaturwunderland are captured in this photo. 1. trains are not the most important thing, actually it is more about depicting areas, it is more a miniature open air museum than a train layout 2. Miniaturwunderland is inhabited, actually it is often crowded, there are so many people to see and 3. many scenes can be activated by pressing a button like here the actors of the play, complete with music and other sound effects. These three characteristics are found in almost every scene and continue to captivate adults and children alike.
9 A passing Harz train service
10 A scene in Middle Germany. There is a well visited fair going on. The bungee jumper on the top of the crane can be activated and than actually jumps.
11 Here we were surprised by the first nightfall, which occurs about every half hour. The daylight dims, turn red and then blue ...
12 ..before going entirely dark. Again the effect is stunning
13 Camping in Middle Germany with a clear 1970's bias.
14 After some time the night turns to day again in reverse order.
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16 Despite its size Miniaturwunderland is thoroughly detailed. Many scenes contain some sort of small joke like the Cupid flying in circles above the field
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18 Miniaturwunderland is littered with countless cameo's. Somebody had an oopsy in the river.
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21 Fighting a forest fire. In the background a track cleaner trundles by.
22 The crowds are simply impressive and very convincing
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24 The Black Forest
25 Knuffingen is an imaginary town depicting typically German scenes.
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27 ICE. (note: the lighting was relatively good but was impossible to take any decent photos from moving trains)
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29 A wave!! This wave could be activated by a press button. But the button didn't make it instantly clear what it was for. So the public had to look what happened where after pressing the button and this of course heightened the play pleasure. And quite frankly this wave was a surprise.
30 Knuffingen has a typical German medium town station
31 Monks caught when speeding. Tuttut.
32 Löwenstein Castle catches fire every fifteen minutes or so
33 An absolutely gorgeous depiction of an "average" German castle garden from the 17th-19th century
34 This is where the fire brigade is housed that serves the Castle every fifteen minutes. The cars actually run their way to and from the castle and weave through the other traffic.
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36 Knuffingen's steam locomotive depot
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38 Caves
39 May festivities
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41 Tractor pulling
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43 A ship lift which actually works, again on the push of a button.
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45 Nightfall at Knuffingen airport.
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50 Switzerland
51 A wow. Switzerland was literally spread over two floors in height!!
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53 Impressive!
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55 Building a bridge
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59 The famous chapel in the Vispa Valley. The scene has been altered slightly to suit the viewing angle but in general it recognisable
60 The real thing to compare
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62 Rescue rehearsal
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70 A variation on the theme of the Reschensee where a whole village was submerged and where the church tower rises above the surface when the water is low. If I remember correctly there is a similar situation in Graubünden (Grisons, SE Switzerland) but I could not reproduce it.
71 Typical houses from Graubünden / Grisons
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75 Even the traffic jams on the Gotthard pass are realistic!!
76 The iconic castle of Tarasp, or at least something quite similar
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79 The trumpets actually play an accompanying tune
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81 A medieval market feast
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83 Somewhere else a modern day music festival, just count the figurines.
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86 And when you are in Switzerland chocolate must be there!
87 And Be 4/6's (crocociles) are mandatory
88 We descended to get a closer look at the lower level
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91 The station is named Brichur, because it bears resemblance to both Brig and Chur
92 Looking upwards the difference in height is even more impressive
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95 By now we have reached Italy
96 Ancient ruins
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98 At night the Vesuvius comes to life!!
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100 This already beautiful scene changes...
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102 There is so much to see. You could spend days here and still miss out on many scenes
103 No doubt a depiction of a scene out of a film
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108 The blue mediterranean sea seems a bit overdone but in place it is reallly that blue
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112 Roma Termini. The main railway station in Rome. Rome has a special place in this wonderful miniature world
113 Absolutely gorgeous, one could stand here for hours!
115 In real life, albeit devoid of people, which is rarely the case
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117 The fire brigade fishing some one out of a sink hole. Even the sound of the rescue services is authentically Roman, instantly associable with a turkey in egg laying trouble.
118 And of course the St Peter and its square
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121 I walked on that roof!
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123 The monument of / for Victor Immanuel II
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125 Even if it is only half the colosseum, it stil is impressive. The most stunning is probably the attention to detail (in every apect of Rome by the way) , which in unusual for such large layouts. The colosseum was no exception.
126 The Roman Forum
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128 The Arch of Titus (A.D. 81), commemorating the Jewish war (A.D. 66-74)
129 The Trevi Fountain
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131 A typical Tuscan village perched high on the hill top.
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136 And of course: Venice!!
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149 Concert in a football stadium with what, 30.000 attendants?
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162 Las Vegas
163 A former Dutch-Swiss railcar operated in Canada post-1977
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169 Station Hamburg Dammtor, partly based on commercial kits and part scratch built. Building time: three months.
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173 Hamburg Hauptbahnhof in the distance
174 The underground depot
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176 The Harbour Area with of course a model of Miniaturwunderland itself
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179 A sort of depiction of the Hamburg Altona double turntable depot
180 This is the original. Note the peculiar double turntables which interlock
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182 Another Hamburg landmark: the large Köhlbrand bridge with road deck height of 53 meter over a tributary of the Elbe
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184 With a real miniature railway inside!!
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187 The famous Hamburg Zoo
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189 The part depicting Scandavia is huge.
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191 Characteristic for Scandavia are the ginormous cruise ships, 10plus decks high.
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193 And winter operation and the Kiruna ore mine are quintessentially Scandinavian
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195 A wooden "Stavkirke"
196 This stave church was built in 300 hours. All parts were cut from wood with "axe" and bare hands.
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204 One of the iconic NOHAB locomotives, e design which heavily eyed towards the famous E-designs from the USA
205 A huge rolling cantilever bridge
206 The tug boat was remotely controlled and actually steered the freighter around the basin.
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211 Scandinavia in one last bird's eye view
212 Next up was South America, starting at its infamous Copacabana beach
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220 The suburbs
221 It all oozes what that typically South American feel.
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225 Carnival in Rio
226 And the favela's, the slums.
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232 Arrest
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238 Antarctica
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245 Ships coping the foamy waters of the Antarctic. This was impressively depicted
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247 Patagonia
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254wunderland-logo-cmyk Our visit was an absolute success. Tired but immensely satisfied we returned to our hotel after having spent more than eight hours inside. We could have stayed for another seven if we had wanted because they were open until 24:00. But we were saturated with impressions. By all means it was well worth the effort of getting there.
