Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg - MiWuLa

20457 Hamburg-Speicherstadt, Germany (Hamburg)

Construction and expansion

After construction began in December 2000, the first 3 sections (Knuffingen, Central Germany and Austria) opened on 16 August 2001. Since then, several sections have been added.
With the completion of the Hamburg, German Coast section in November 2002, Wunderland became the largest model railroad in Europe.
The United States was added in December 2003,
followed by Scandinavia in July 2005.
On 10 September 2015, the Brauns added the final piece of track between the Switzerland section and a new Italy section, extending the track length from 13,000 to 15,400 meters.
An observing Guinness judge presented the certificate for the newly established world record.

The 190 m² Bella Italia section was opened on 28 September 2016 after 4 years under construction, involving 180,000 man hours and costing around €4 million.
Work on the Monaco / Provence section started in August 2019 and, when completed, will add another 315 meters.
The total length of currently 15,715 meters therefore corresponds to 1,367.21 km in real length, making Miniatur Wunderland the largest model railway layout in the world by all measures.

In 2020, a bridge connected the original Wunderland to a building across the canal. The new space features depictions of Antarctica and South America, including Rio de Janeiro. Construction on Monaco and Provence, featuring a Formula One circuit, is expected to conclude in 2024.

Other future projects include Central America/Caribbean and Asia. The creators say construction on Great Britain will begin in 2028.

Special features
include a simulated daily routine where twilight, night and day repeat every 15 minutes. This includes an automatic lighting control system that activates more than 300,000 lights to match the time of day.

The 120-square-meter fantasy town of Knuffingen, with a population of about 6,000, is equipped with more than 100 moving model cars, including numerous fire engines, which are used to simulate a firefighting operation in Knuffingen every 15 minutes on average. Traffic simulation is made possible by a modified car system that is also used in the USA, Scandinavia and Knuffingen Airport sections. In the America section, an Interstate Highway is equipped with a dynamic Traffic Control System, which uses variable-message signs with 2x16 characters, lane use control lights, and 4 different speed limits to control traffic.

Intricate details include a changing scoreboard in the Volkspark Stadium, speeding cameras and a crashed cheese wheel truck. There is also a Jet gas station displaying the real current gasoline prices of its prototype in Hamburg's Amsinck street.

Visitors can control operations on the system through about 200 push-buttons, including options to start a mine train, turn wind turbines, trigger a goal in the football stadium, launch a helicopter or the Space Shuttle, or elongate Pinocchio's nose. One button allows visitors to watch the simulated production of a small chocolate bar in a factory, resulting in a block of Lindt chocolate dispensed for the visitor to sample.

Certain tours also include a behind-the-scenes look at detailed figures that cannot be seen from the normal public area.

Sections

Number   Section   Completion  Size

1  Central Germany / Harz  August 2001  ca. 120 m²
1a Central Germany / Harz – Subsection Kirmes  June 2020  ca. 9 m²

2  Knuffingen (Fictional town)  August 2001  ca. 120 m²

3  Austria  August 2001  ca. 60 m²

4  Hamburg  November 2002  ca. 200 m²
4a Hamburg – subsection Hafencity and Elbphilharmonie  November  2013  ca.  9 m²

5  United States  December 2003  ca. 100 m²

6  Scandinavia  July 2005  ca. 300 m²

7  Switzerland  November 2007  ca. 250 m²

8  Knuffingen Airport  May 2011  ca. 150 m²

9  Italy  September  2016  ca. 190 m²
9a IaItaly – Subsection Venice  February 2018  ca. 9 m²

10  The World From Above (Bridge crossing to South America)  December 2021  ca. 10 m²

11  Rio de Janeiro  December  2021  ca. 220 m²

13  Patagonia  May  2023  ca. 150 m²

12  Monaco / Provence  2024 (under construction)  ca. 63 m²

14  Central America & The Caribbean  2024 (under construction) ca. 150 m²

15  Asia  2026/2027 (planned)  ca. 150m²

16  Great Britain  2028/29   (planned)

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