I must apologies for being rather elusive blog wise, it's been simply down to holidays and that thing we all suffer from - lack of time. The other truth is that toy chuffers and photography has taken over increasingly as the primary day job since the beginning of October, and because that puts food on the table the projects have to be under wraps until they appear in print. This is of course rubbish from a blog point of view but great in that the daily graft is something that I really enjoy. The problem now is that I'll need to get a hobby!
One thing I can chat about, is that earlier in the week I enjoyed the pleasure of a behind the scenes visit to Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg as illustrated in the above snap. Whilst many will be familiar with what I believe to be the world's largest trainset, for those that don't - take a look at this link http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/
Miniatur Wunderland really is something for all the family, and the huge number of people there enjoying the experience really confirming this. It's so popular that I believe it's now Hamburg's biggest tourist attraction, which is amazing when you think that here in the UK most keep quiet about their love of toy trains. In Germany they openly love their railways, unlike over here where we treat rather them as an illegitimate child that we'd happy brush under the carpet given the first opportunity. A visit to any German newsagent is further proof of their love of railways, with literally dozens of high quality magazines to satisfy that most wonderful of guilty pleasures (which in Germany is not guilty).
Beware though, Miniatur Wunderland is a HUGE experience, and the the 3 hours we had was not nearly enough with so much to see and enjoy. I was also astonished at the level of great modelling in places well out of bounds to normal viewing, and on top of that, the workshop must have the world's BIGGEST static grass tool I've ever seen!
For UK readers, Easyjet do regular flights to Hamburg for less than the cost a
Bachmann 0-6-0 steam loco and hotel accommodation is also great value. And
of course there is plenty of great German beer to enjoy whilst
reflecting on the experience afterwoods!
About Me
- Chris Nevard Model Railways & Photography
- Professional Photographer, Model Maker, Writer & Pretend Musician
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI was there is 2010 and it was truly awesome some bits were not to me taste in modelling but others were but overall you have to be impressed with the whole project. I saw part of the computer controls and the workshops. Of course as an industrial archaeologist I was only there to look at an example of the adaptive reuse of a warehouse.
In a similar vein, the Alexander Platz in Berlin is also well worth a visit : http://loxx-berlin.de. Not quite as big, but it covers the entire top floor of a shopping centre!
ReplyDelete