Miniatur Wunderland is without a doubt not only the most successful exhibit of model train layout in Northern Germany but also the largest model railway in the world. It means miniature wonderland in German. Situated in the old warehouse district of Hamburg, it was first built by the twin Gerrit and Braun, and slow began to expand more and more. The tracks used in Miniature Wunderland are of HO scale and stretch to about 12000 metres, as recorded in the beginning of the year 2011. About 230 workers have put in 580,000 working hours for the model railway layout to reach where is stands today.

They model railway layout is divided into 7 sections. The first is Harz which demonstrates a made up city of Knuffingen. This section also has an airport called Knuffingen International Airport, and is has drawn inspiration from the Hamburg International Airport. The second section represents the Alps, the third represents Austria, and the fourth represents the place in which it is located, Hamburg. The fifth section represents America, the sixth represents Scandinavia, and the last section represents Switzerland.

The model occupies around f 1150 square meters of space, although the room space that has been allotted for this purpose is about 6400 square meters. This shows that Miniatur Wunderland still has the potential to expand a lot more. It is at present still in its construction phase, and is plan to be completed in the year 2020. At least 10 new sections are to be constructed, covering further an area of 2300 square meters.  Constructions of countries like France and Italy have been made concrete. There are plans of including areas like Africa and England. There might even be a possibility of creating a layout that has the theme of a futuristic landscape.

As of now, Miniatur Wunderland boasts of having 890 trains which each have structures like 300,000 lights, and 11,000 carriages. The model railway layout also has about 215,000 trees, 3,660 houses and bridges, 8,850 cars and 200,000 miniature human figures. The best part about Miniatu Wunderland is that there is great diversity in its exhibition, and people from all over the world can come and feel as is a part of their country is represented here. Hills or valleys, country side or mountains, night or day, this model railway layout has it all!

Miniatur Wunderland is open to visitors all week except for Wednesday and Thursday. The hours can differ from day to day so it is always good to check out the official website before heading out. This place is especially a favorite with the children. Although Miniatur Wunderland focuses primarily on model trains, other things are an added bonus and you can’t help but notice the small amounts of humor sprinkled in as well. For example, in one section, if you look closely enough, you can see dead bodies being dragged out of the water with a coffin nearby. Any model train collector or hobbyist would have going to see this place in their bucket list.