Largest Model Railway in the World . . . Unbelievable!

This is absolutely phenomenal!!

Covering 12,380 square feet, this is the world's largest train layout.  It features nearly six miles of track and is still not complete!

Twin brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun, 41, have been working on the 'Miniature Wunderland' since 2000.

The set covers six regions including the United States, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany, and the Austrian Alps. 

The American section features giant models of the Rocky Mountains, the Everglades, the Grand Canyon...

...and Mount Rushmore.

The Swiss section has a mini-Matterhorn.

The Scandinavian part has a 4-foot passenger ship floating in a fjord.  Yes, that's real water they're standing in - about 8,000 gallons of it!

The Brauns plan to add parts of France, Italy, and the UK to their layout.  It is expected to be finished in 2014, when the train set will cover more than 19,376 square feet and feature almost 13 miles of track.

The work of art contains about 700 trains with more than 10,000 carriages and wagons.

The longest train is 46 feet long.

The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings, and 4,000 cars - many with illuminated headlights.

...and 160,000 individually designed figures.  Thousands of people enjoying a rock concert... why not?!

Thousands of kilograms of steel and wood were used to construct the scenery...

The 250,000 lights are rigged up to a system that 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 Euro (currently a little more than $10,500,000 US) to put together, the vast majority of which has come from ticket sales.

Gerrit said, "Our idea was to build a world that men, women, and children equally can be astonished and amazed in."
Frederik added, "Whether gambling in Las Vegas, hiking in the Alps, or paddling in Norwegian fjords - in Wunderland everything is possible!"

The coolest thing, though, is seeing it all in action!  You absolutely have to watch the video - it's unbelievable!

Also, if you're interested in finding out more about Miniatur Wunderland, click through to their website: www.Miniatur-Wunderland.com