Miniatur Wunderland

Miniatur Wunderland GmbH
Limited liability company
(Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)
Industry Model railway
Founded 2000
Headquarters Hamburg, Germany
Key people
Frederik & Gerrit Braun, Stephan Hertz
Number of employees
270
Website miniatur-wunderland.de

Miniatur Wunderland (German for miniature wonderland) is a model railway attraction in Hamburg, Germany, and the largest of its kind in the world. The railway is located in the historic Speicherstadt district of the city. In September 2015 the railway consisted of 15,400 metres (50,525 ft) of track in HO scale, divided into seven sections: Harz, the fictitious city of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland and a replicate of the Hamburg Airport. Of the 6,400 square metres (68,889 sq ft) of floorspace, the model takes 1,300 m2 (13,993 sq ft).[1]

By 2020, the exhibit is expected to have reached its final construction phase, including at least a total of ten new sections in a model area of over 2,300 m2 (24,757 sq ft).[1] The next section is Italy and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2016. The exhibit includes 930 trains made up of over 14,450 carriages, 335,000 lights, 228,000 trees, and 215,000 human figurines. Planning is also in progress for the construction of sections for France, England and Africa.[2]

History

The construction of the first part started in December 2000 and the first three parts were completed in August 2001. The project was created by twin brothers Frederik and Gerrit Braun.[3]

In 2012 the Wunderland also completed a series of diorama representing social conditions and life in various periods of German history.

Overview of the different sections

Section Name Completion date Size
1 Harz/Central Germany August 2001 c. 120 m2 (1,300 sq ft)
2 Knuffingen August 2001 c. 120 m2 (1,300 sq ft)
3 Austria August 2001 c. 60 m2 (650 sq ft)
4 Hamburg November 2002 c. 200 m2 (2,200 sq ft)
5 America December 2003 c. 100 m2 (1,100 sq ft)
6 Scandinavia July 2005 c. 300 m2 (3,200 sq ft)
7 Switzerland November 2007 c. 250 m2 (2,700 sq ft)
8 Knuffingen Airport May 2011 c. 150 m2 (1,600 sq ft)
9 Italy Spring 2016 (under construction) c. 190 m2 (2,000 sq ft)
10 France 2017 (planned) c. 130 m2 (1,400 sq ft)
11 England 2019 (planned)
12 Africa 2020 (planned)

Gallery

In popular culture

Miniatur Wunderland has featured on the British Television Series James May's Toy Stories twice, with Sebastian and Gerrit helping BBC Top Gear presenter James May building an OO-scale Hornby model railway along the Tarka Trail abandoned railway between Barnstaple and Bideford.

It was visited in episode six of the BBC series Great Continental Railway Journeys.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Miniatur Wunderland.

Coordinates: 53°32′38″N 9°59′20″E / 53.54389°N 9.98889°E / 53.54389; 9.98889

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.