Wonderland

Wonderland is an immense model railroad layout in Hamburg Germany.  Actually it is much more than a model railroad with 263,000 figures, 130,000 trees,  9,250 cars,  4,340 buildings and bridges and over 1,000 trains with 10,000 train cars running on more than 9.5 miles (15 Km) of track all lighted with 500,000 LEDs. In fact these are underestimates for each of these categories since additions are being made all the time.  As you tour through the layout you will visit Central Germany,  Austria, Hamburg, USA, Scandinavia, Switzerland, the Knuffingen airport, Venice, Italy, the fun fair, Monaco, Rio de Janeiro, and South America. Without further ado and in no particular order lets begin our visit.

The Model Railway Wonderland occupies three floors in this building.


Wonderland's immigration department has kept precise records about the countries of origin of all visitors who have entered Wonderland.
When we visited this was the status board.
They have granted visas to guests from almost all parts of the world.


Some information about the America section. 
Even if you don't read German some of the entries are easy to guess.



Inside a miniature German home with a lovely flower garden.


And nearby 2 graves with flowers.


And a large park in full bloom.


A little further on a garden center with more plants.


There are little scenes to discover throughout the exhibition.
Here a rabbit is giving an egg decorating lesson to little bunnies.


An open air shop



Occasionally you will get a glimpse of what goes on backstage.
And if you have time and plan ahead you can get a tour to see how the system works behind the scenes.


A garden party with a child's birthday party on the other side of the canal.


With a sword swallower for entertainment.


A hot air balloon and a parade.


Playground


Workers are clearing debris from a bridge that had been destroyed while tanks are being transported over a hastily constructed replacement.


Another party, this seems to be for dignitaries from the 17th century.


A modern stadium hosting a rock concert.
The performers on stage and a detail of the audience so you can see that they are all distinctly different individuals.
 

Now on to Rome.
Visitors can get close to all the models.


Firefighters and police responding to an accident.


The rail station on the left, Santissima Trinità dei Monti above the Spanish steps in the center and the Vatican on the right.


I don't think that these monks and nuns will manage to get to their destination in just one car.


Another view of the rail yard and station.


This is San Gimignano, a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy.


On to Venice as night falls.


Switzerland by day and night.


The chocolate factory prepared and wrapped candy for us.


The county fair with amusements and food vendors on the midway and porta potties for their visitors.


A D J Bobo concert that lasted into the night.
 
 
The detail in all of the scenes is remarkable.
 

Here we are on the Riviera.

 

Giants occasionally appear to check on some difficulty in a rail yard.


Wild west movie set


A Swiss renaissance fair.


Night falls during the fair


A traffic jam on one side of this roadway while they repair the other.
Rather nonstandard power for one of the pieces of equipment.


Buttons are scattered about, each will initiate some action on the layout.


Folks enjoying the beach near a shipwreck.


I am sure that this yellow church is a famous landmark.
I just don't know it's name or location.


This castle probably is too but again I don't recognize it.


This volcano erupts and lava flows down each night..


Trains pass as it erupts.


We often discover weddings as we visit new places so this was no surprise.


Visit this ruin.
 

Looks like there has been an accident on this mountain road.


The classic car rally has a little trouble with a flock of sheep.


Overloaded.


The lair of some evil villain intent on debauchery and world domination.


The workings of an elevator for trains to raise them to another part of the layout.


Other trains take this track spiral to change levels.


Mountain climbers


And elsewhere a team is making a rescue.
 

Night has fallen again.


Witches and warlocks in their own playground.


Ghosts and demons in Wonderland's underground


Occasionally you will get a glimpse of some of the circuity  that is used tocontrol the action.


The scheduled flights to and from the make-believe city of Knuffingen.
There are local, international, intercontinental, and intergalactic flights listed.


Ground control and emergency equipment for response to airport emergencies.
 

Planes land and taxi to gates to discharge passengers or to ramps elsewhere on the tarmac where they are parked for loading and unloading, refueling, or maintenance.


Cargo planes coming in


 

Looks like one of these planes is going to be overloaded.


The Millennium Falcon has arrived from Hoth
 

Another of the unusual aircraft that you may see.


Another luggage overload.

She is responsible for scheduling (and other) problems.


The tractor pull at the county fair.


Impressive power put to the test.


Concession stands and attractions at the fair later in the day.
   

On the left there are some storm clouds with lightning but the ski slopes on the right operate day and night
 

Hot air balloons drift over a village in the valley.


There is something going on that mountain snowfield.


A closer look reveals a nudist group posing for a picture. I wonder what that was about.


A polar bear and Greta Thunburg on a shrinking ice flow while she is trying to get corporate representatives to pay attention.


A palace with garden mazes.


This dance hall had lots of patrons.


A train station by night.


A passenger train had to slow down  because of a freight train ahead.


A little church and a troll home in the German forest.


They found some big fossils and are working to find more.


The behind the scenes tour may make you part of a scene.


Emergency vehicles responding to a fire.


Structure fire
emergency vehicles respond and all other traffic is shut down in the area.
 
 


This accident is hard to explain. You may have noticed it in one of the pictures of emergency vehicles responding.  It was on the corner near the fire.


The fire is out, the emergency vehicles return to stations and normal traffic resumes.


We are firefighters so we had to see how the emergency responders of Wonderland dealt with this vehicle fire on a bridge.

Here they are recovering a car from the river while divers search for victims.



They are prepared for real world emergencies as well.


Another accident.  Fire/rescue and ambulance on scene.


A small part of the control room and a closer look at the monitors.
 

A workshop where they are making an addition to the layout.


An amusement park with Ferris wheel and a Wild Mouse ride.


A fair in a little town.  The parade had hippos pulling a wagon.


A few random shots.
 

Scouts on a hike and trains, trucks and planes in the canyon.


A plane ran into the canyon wall.  The pilot managed to parachute out but rescue climbers will be needed to bring them to safety.


Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills.


Los Vegas in all its decadence is there as well.


This little town is ready for Christmas.


A construction site.


Another stadium with thousands of unique figures.
 

The town hall is on fire. No wonder there are so many trucks and personnel deployed.
 


A little town and some of the entertainment you may find there.
 

Night falls in the big city.
 

Elbphilharmonie and the Kohlbrand Bridge are sights from the harbor in Hamburg.


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