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www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-27 14:53:18 Print

BERLIN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- If you cannot afford or are not prepared to pay for an expensive trip amid the current financial downturn, you may want to visit "Miniatur Wunderland," the world's biggest model train set.

Housed in a private museum, the set features trains running through models of Scandinavian fjords, the Swiss alps, and even Mount Rushmore, and is becoming one of the major attractions in Germany.

Located in the northern port city of Hamburg, "Wunderland" attracted almost 1 million visitors last year. The model railway, opened in 2001, welcomed its 5th million visitor last June.

Against the current trend of investment reluctance in Germany, "Wunderland" ordered 150,000 Euros (200,000 U.S. dollars) worth of new products in February, according to the twin brothers Frederickand Gerrit Braun, who built "Wunderland."

As of January 2008, the railway consisted of 11,000 meters of track. The American section features models of the Rocky Mountains and Mount Rushmore. The Swiss section has a mini Matterhorn and in the general Scandinavian section one can see a passenger ship sailing in a fjord.

The settings took 500,000 hours to build. It consists of 900 engines, 12,000 carriages, 300,000 lights, 200,000 trees, and 200,000 human figures each a little over one centimeter tall.

About 4,000 kg of steel was used, and 700 kg of artificial grass was laid. The cost of construction is estimated at 8.5 million Euros (11 million dollars), according to the company.

The area is so large that 160 people are employed to show visitors around settings to experience "a mixture of technology and fairy tale."

According to the Braun brothers, "Wunderland" will double its number of sections to 10 by 2014. The next section an airport, is due to open later this year.


Editor: Zhang Xiang