Many of us across the world dream big! We are taught to reach for our goals and nothing is impossible in life. We are praised for dreaming larger than life. Two twin brothers, Garrett and Frederik Braun, had dreams larger than life as well. However you’d be surprised to know that they actually took a “very small” dream and turned it into something much larger than life. This may sound confusing but when you take a look at this massive, continuously evolving project you will understand exactly what I am talking about. This project is the largest of its kind in the world. The attention to detail is like nothing I’ve ever seen and no matter how many times I go through these images, each time I find something new.
The Braun brothers have spent years creating the worlds largest model train city.
The exhibit is located in Hamburg, Germany and takes up a whopping 68,889 ft. of floor space.
The exhibit includes 900 trains made up of over 12,000 carriages.
There are over 300,000 lights.
There are over 215,000 trees!
This miniature city has a population of over 200,000 citizens, all hand crafted.
I probably shouldn’t call it a city because it’s more like a small-scale world.
It includes areas of Germany, Austria, America, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Italy, France and England.
The project is constantly evolving and they have plans to add Africa, Egypt, possibly even a futuristic town.
The exhibit has created a media frenzy around the world and featured on many hit TV shows as well as news publications.
The attention to detail is absolutely astounding.
The exhibit spans throughout many rooms offering a different experience around each corner.
Even if model trains aren’t really your thing, the sheer size and detail of this project are impressive to say the least.
They have almost everything you would imagine to see in day-to-day life.
Just take a look at the buildings, vehicles and interactions with the citizens in the miniature world.
Everything in the exhibit is absolutely perfect to scale.
Like I said you will find everything you’ve seen in your day-to-day.
Some scenarios may be a little far-fetched but that’s part of the magic with the Miniatur Wunderland located in Hamburg.
The size of the world is incredible. It even includes scale airports.
The exhibit brings in thousands of tourists every year.
Is that a little of Las Vegas in the back of this picture? It looks like the Luxor and the MGM Grand.
We all recognize this monument.
The world even includes disasters with rescue on scene fighting a building fire.
It looks like they were able to contain the fire. Phew.
These campers have their tents pitched and are ready to grill. Look at the strings that tie down the tents.
The brothers are also beginning exhibits in other parts of the world.
This looks like a show I want to be at!
Yes these are scuba diving cows.
Many of the vehicles are computer controlled and actually drive around the cities. The airport alone cost over $4 million dollars and may be the most advanced airport simulation in the world.
An old shipwreck on a hidden island.
Looks like the Italian police are cracking down on these citizens.
When you gotta go, you gotta go.
To sum it all up:
Model area = 1,150 sq. meters (12,378 sq ft)
Track length = 12,000 meters (39,370 ft)
Trains = 890 approx.
Wagons = 11,000+
Longest train = 14.51 meters (47.6 ft)
Lights = 300,000+
Buildings and Bridges = 3,500
Figurines = 200,000
Cars = 5,500
Trees = 215,000
Work hours = 500,000+
Staff = 185
Construction cost = $14.16 million USD
Take a tour of the miniature world here with the Wunderland official video. Trust me you want to see this!
