Saturday, January 16, 2010

The biggest train set



This is the world's biggest train set which 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.


The set covers six regions including America, Switzerland, Scandinavia,
Germany and the Austrian Alps. The American section features giant models of the Rocky Mountains, Everglades, Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore.





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 will 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 will have been added. It comprises 700 trains with more than 10,000 carriages and wagons.



The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings, 4,000 cars, many with illuminated headlights. There are 160,000 individually designed figures.
The 250,000 lights are rigged up to a system which mimics night and day by automatically turning them on and off.



The whole system is controlled from a massive high-tech nerve centre.
In total, the set has taken 500,000 hours and more than 8 million dollars to
put together, the vast majority of which has come from ticket sales.

9 comments:

Bill said...

Gee, it won't fit in my house by the time it's finished.
Is it just me, or does George Washington look bored? Maybe his teeth hurt.

Garykfc said...

Man, my son is a train freak, he would love that. Have a great day my friend.

Pammie said...

why?

Scott W said...

I am with Pam. Why? Well, I am not WITH her, but I am in agreement with her question.

Lou said...

I "know" another blogger who would like this. I will give him the link.

JeremyRT said...

It seems to me that money & time could be spent in better ways, but if it's what they enjoy who am I to say

Ed G. said...

To each their own.

Blessings and aloha...

Syd said...

Neil Young is probably drooling. He owns or did own Lionel Train.

Mary Christine said...

Wow. And I thought I knew how to waste time and money.