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Miniatur Wunderland
The Miniatur Wunderland (German for: Miniature Wonderland) is, according to Guinness World Records, the largest model railway system in the world. It is located at the historic Speicherstadt in Hamburg and is one of the most popular and most visited sights in Germany.
The exhibition includes around 1,230 digitally controlled trains with more than 12,000 wagons. The Wonderland is also designed with around 5,280 houses and bridges, more than 11,800 vehicles – of which around 350 drive independently on the installation – 52 airplanes and around 290,000 figures. The system features a recurring day-night lighting cycle and almost 500,000 built-in LED lights. Of the 10,000 m2 (107,639 sq ft) of floorspace, the models occupies 1,694 m2 (18,234 sq ft).
As of May 2025, the railway consisted of 16,491 m (54,104 ft) of track in H0 scale with 3,600 switches and 1,400 signals, divided into twelve sections: Harz mountains, the fictitious town of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland, a replica of Hamburg Airport, Italy, Rio de Janeiro, Patagonia and Monaco/Provence. Planning is also in progress for the construction of sections for Central America and the Caribbean and perhaps Great Britain.
In the summer of 2000, Frederik Braun, one of the four founders of Miniatur Wunderland, was on vacation in Zurich. In a local model train store he came up with the idea for the world's largest model railway. Back in Hamburg, he searched for email addresses online and started a survey on the popularity of real and fictional sights of the city. In the process, the Miniatur Wunderland, which did not yet exist, was ranked 3 by male respondents.[clarification needed]
According to Braun and his twin brother Gerrit, the initial idea and business plan for Miniatur Wunderland fit on just two pages. The financial backer was Hamburger Sparkasse.
The Miniatur Wunderland is controlled by the Delphi programming language.
After construction began in December 2000, the first three sections (Knuffingen, Central Germany and Austria) opened on 16 August 2001. Since then, several sections have been added. With the completion of the Hamburg, German Coast section in November 2002, Wunderland became the largest model railroad in Europe. The United States was added in December 2003, followed by Scandinavia in July 2005. On 10 September 2015, the Brauns added the final piece of track between the Switzerland section and a new Italy section, extending the track length from 13,000 meters (43,000 ft) to 15,400 meters (50,500 ft). An observing Guinness judge presented the certificate for the newly established world record.
The 190 m2 (2,000 sq ft) Bella Italia section was opened on 28 September 2016 after four years under construction, involving 180,000 man hours and costing around €4 million. Work on the Monaco / Provence section started in August 2019 and, when completed, added another 315 meters (1,033 ft). As of 2019, the total length of 15,715 meters (51,558 ft) therefore corresponded to 1,367.21 kilometres (849.54 mi) in real length, making Miniatur Wunderland the largest model railway layout in the world by all measures.
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Miniatur Wunderland
The Miniatur Wunderland (German for: Miniature Wonderland) is, according to Guinness World Records, the largest model railway system in the world. It is located at the historic Speicherstadt in Hamburg and is one of the most popular and most visited sights in Germany.
The exhibition includes around 1,230 digitally controlled trains with more than 12,000 wagons. The Wonderland is also designed with around 5,280 houses and bridges, more than 11,800 vehicles – of which around 350 drive independently on the installation – 52 airplanes and around 290,000 figures. The system features a recurring day-night lighting cycle and almost 500,000 built-in LED lights. Of the 10,000 m2 (107,639 sq ft) of floorspace, the models occupies 1,694 m2 (18,234 sq ft).
As of May 2025, the railway consisted of 16,491 m (54,104 ft) of track in H0 scale with 3,600 switches and 1,400 signals, divided into twelve sections: Harz mountains, the fictitious town of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland, a replica of Hamburg Airport, Italy, Rio de Janeiro, Patagonia and Monaco/Provence. Planning is also in progress for the construction of sections for Central America and the Caribbean and perhaps Great Britain.
In the summer of 2000, Frederik Braun, one of the four founders of Miniatur Wunderland, was on vacation in Zurich. In a local model train store he came up with the idea for the world's largest model railway. Back in Hamburg, he searched for email addresses online and started a survey on the popularity of real and fictional sights of the city. In the process, the Miniatur Wunderland, which did not yet exist, was ranked 3 by male respondents.[clarification needed]
According to Braun and his twin brother Gerrit, the initial idea and business plan for Miniatur Wunderland fit on just two pages. The financial backer was Hamburger Sparkasse.
The Miniatur Wunderland is controlled by the Delphi programming language.
After construction began in December 2000, the first three sections (Knuffingen, Central Germany and Austria) opened on 16 August 2001. Since then, several sections have been added. With the completion of the Hamburg, German Coast section in November 2002, Wunderland became the largest model railroad in Europe. The United States was added in December 2003, followed by Scandinavia in July 2005. On 10 September 2015, the Brauns added the final piece of track between the Switzerland section and a new Italy section, extending the track length from 13,000 meters (43,000 ft) to 15,400 meters (50,500 ft). An observing Guinness judge presented the certificate for the newly established world record.
The 190 m2 (2,000 sq ft) Bella Italia section was opened on 28 September 2016 after four years under construction, involving 180,000 man hours and costing around €4 million. Work on the Monaco / Provence section started in August 2019 and, when completed, added another 315 meters (1,033 ft). As of 2019, the total length of 15,715 meters (51,558 ft) therefore corresponded to 1,367.21 kilometres (849.54 mi) in real length, making Miniatur Wunderland the largest model railway layout in the world by all measures.