Tuesday 23 / April / 2024
Hamburg: On August 16, 2001, when Frederik Braun and Gerrit Braun –twin German brothers – opened the doors of their 300sqm Miniatur Wunderland, a model railway station in the Warehouse District of Hamburg, they received some 1,500 visitors.
But on the second day, that numbers dipped to less than 100 visitors.
However, the brothers were not ready to give up. Just as trains pick up speed on their tracks, they and their Miniatur Wunderland also did.
During the last 16 years, the Miniatur Wunderland has expanded to 1,300sqm, and more than 14 million visitors have experienced this amazing miniature world.
Now, there are eight different worlds, with more than 215,000 figures, and thousands of moving trains, cars, ships and planes.
As of October this year, the railway consists of 15,400 metres of track in HO scale and divided into eight sections: Harz, the fictitious city of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, Switzerland, a replica of the Hamburg Airport and Italy, which was opened this year.
The exhibit includes 1,040 trains made up of over 10,000 carriages, 385,000 lights, 130,000 trees, and 260,000 human figurines.
According to Frederik, co-creator, it was an idea that popped into his mind when he was visiting the Alpine city of Zurich in July 2000.
“Strolling through the alleys of Zurich’s center, I came across a railway model shop, which evoked childhood memories in me at once. On the very same day, I called Gerrit and surprised him with the following words: “We are going to build the largest model railway in the world.”
“Gerrit doubted my state of mind, and didn’t take the idea too seriously. However, six phone calls later, Gerrit realised that I was serious, indeed,” Fredrik added.
Both brothers continued discussing the idea and found that the economic aspect was very risky, and from an entrepreneurial point of view it was plain crazy – but possible, nonetheless.
And a few days after the "Zurich Epiphany", both of them were positive that they would begin this adventure.
Before their dream became reality, one thing they had to be sure of was that their venture would not destroy their being night club and music label owners, which were businesses the brothers had built up over many years.
It also had to be determined whether this dream was financially feasible, whether enough visitors would come, whether the technical realisation was possible, and whether there was an appropriate location in Hamburg where the world’s largest model railroad could be built.
In order to estimate whether they might have enough visitors to cover expenses, the brothers decided to carry out a survey.
More than 3,000 persons with different social and demographic attributes were questioned via Internet, rating 45 attractions listed, some of which were fictitious, and otherswere sites they would visit in Hamburg.
The fictitious Miniatur Wunderland came in third among those men voting, but it was at the bottom of the list with women. Despite this ambiguous result, the brothers decided to build the largest miniature railroad in the world.
Thus, the construction of Miniatur Wunderland began. The original layout was 300 sqm large. It has grown to 1,300sqm,as of today, andmore designs are planned through 2020.
Planning is also in progress for the construction of sections for France, England, Africa and Australia.
By 2020, the exhibit is expected to have reached its final construction phase, including at least 10 new sections in a model area of over 2,300 sqm.
