One big layout

[cec209]

I thought the layout in the Chicago Museaum of Science and Industry was big but these German guys have outdone themselves. Though the video doesn't say, as far as I could see, this appears to be HO but it contains some great inspiration for any scale.

  http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/exhibit/video/4-minutes-wunderland

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I don't know, these monsters keep cropping up, and I've got to say, I'm not a fan.

For two reasons:
1. I don't like their uncohesive approach of "let's have everything", where there's a city scene right next to the grand canyon. View blocks or not, they're not really attempting to display reality, as much as they are "here's a lot of stuff, some of which looks semi-realistic".  Then there's the issues of having F units running around with Dash 9s... I don't like the "cutesy" approach. In fact, I hate it.

2. I don't like that these places (like this, Choo Choo Barn, Roadside America, Northlandz, etc...) become the defacto "spokesman" for our hobby. Because these things are popular, whenever someone finds out about your hobby, you're then hit with the "Have you been to Northlandz? do you have a giraffe that ducks his head before the tunnel?" questions. Once people have seen the double decker outhouse, it's tough to convince them that you're trying to do something a little more serious and refined.

But then again, I think I may just have a bundle of pre-weathered flex track (you know, that really rigid stuff) up my a$$, and might need to lighten up a bit.

[Dave V]

Because these things are popular, whenever someone finds out about your hobby, you're then hit with the "Have you been to Northlandz? do you have a giraffe that ducks his head before the tunnel?" questions. Once people have seen the double decker outhouse, it's tough to convince them that you're trying to do something a little more serious and refined.

But then again, I think I may just have a bundle of pre-weathered flex track (you know, that really rigid stuff) up my a$$, and might need to lighten up a bit.

Spot-on.  As soon as people around here find out "I like trains" (usually through a third person), I get the "Have you seen (insert random shopping mall choo-choo display)?"

On the one had I appreciate that they're trying to make conversation and relate through some common experience, but on the other the G scale garden choo-choo loop at the botanical gardens provides NO context by which they can understand my Juniata Division.

[DKS]

But then again, I think I may just have a bundle of pre-weathered flex track (you know, that really rigid stuff) up my a$$, and might need to lighten up a bit.

Maybe, maybe not. I tend to agree with you on all points. It makes things especially hard for me, because I may comment that I do a lot of animation, and because the average Joes only have places like Roadside America as a mental image, they'll immediately ask questions like, "Do you have a signal man pop out of the gatehouse when the train goes by?" It's almost impossible to correct their mental image of things and convince them that the stuff I do is supposed to be realistic as opposed to being cute or fanciful. It's especially hard if I tell them about my functional backhoe, because they immediately think in terms of the amusement park machines where you can pick a prize with a mechanical grabber.

These places serve a purpose for a particular audience, and that audience by and large isn't us. It's someplace to take the kids and get wowed by a lot of eye candy. I sort of make an exception for that monster in Germany, however, because of the technology behind it, which I scrape for ideas of my own that I would then execute in a more realistic style.

It's along similar lines to Ntrak. If a couple of kids (or adults) that are exposed to these attractions then go on to become serious modelers, then it's worth putting up with all the silliness.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I love it here.

[Packer]

But then again, I think I may just have a bundle of pre-weathered flex track (you know, that really rigid stuff) up my a$$, and might need to lighten up a bit.

I too agree on all points. Some of the animation stuff seems a bit toyish (like tinplate, some lionel, and some trainsets) and with all of the animation stuff, it's kind of a sensory overload IMO (like Franklin and South Manchester)

[Zox]

(shrug) The guys who built it are apparently having a lot of fun, making money while having fun, and helping a lot of other people have fun along the way.

I don't have a problem with that.

Then again, I also enjoy it when the kids spot the giant robot guarding my secret government facility, so maybe I'm coming at it from a different direction.

[One of One-Sixty]

I don't mind Wunderalnd or Northlandz that much due to the fact, especially with Northlandz they was created out of the love for our hobby.  I like Wunderland for the fact that it also open up European modelers to the US side of things and they do create new modelers out of their visit there, albeit maybe not N, but a bet a handful of people do leave there wanting to build their own layout, the same goes for Northlandz although most will probably put up a circle around the Christmas Tree.  The more the exposure the better, this way as they get serious they can make their own decisions and build what they like.

Like DKS, I also tend to gravitate to Wunderland due to the techno touches, I plan to incorporate the Faller Car System into my module/layout, plus I get ideas on how to string cat and other ideas on running from live overhead, as it is really popular over there.

[GaryHinshaw]

Overall, the level of Schtick is too high for my taste too. But taken in isolation, many of the scenes are very effective (except for the mix of steam & ICE...)



and their use of figures is unparalleled in my experience:



-gfh

[seusscaboose]

i am supposed to visit there in mid november...  i have a "free day" on the weekend whilst spending 2 weeks in Denmark for work.  Hamburg is a 2 hour drive.  I am hoping that stars align and i can make it there.

EP

[DKS]

Like DKS, I also tend to gravitate to Wunderland due to the techno touches, I plan to incorporate the Faller Car System into my module/layout, plus I get ideas on how to string cat and other ideas on running from live overhead, as it is really popular over there.

Their road vehicle system is just jaw-droppingly incredible, an example of what one can accomplished given what must be an unlimited budget. That alone would be worth the price of admission.

As soon as people around here find out "I like trains" (usually through a third person), I get the "Have you seen (insert random shopping mall choo-choo display)?"

Just today I was having lunch with a colleague, and the hobby topic came up. Sure enough, I was hit with this very question. I hate to lie and say "yes" just to be able to move on to the next topic, because sometimes they will then pursue a line of questioning around it. But if I'm truthful and answer "no," then invariably they carry on with a detailed description of all the crap great stuff to see and do, and then they get all uber-helpful and promise to send me the address of the place and insist that I would simply "love" it. And if I said that I wasn't interested, I'd get the scrunched up frown of disbelief that wordlessly asks "but why not?"

I'm sure most everyone here has been faced with these circumstances, so how do you guys handle it?

[Packer]

....Sure enough, I was hit with this very question. I hate to lie and say "yes" just to be able to move on to the next topic, because sometimes they will then pursue a line of questioning around it. But if I'm truthful and answer "no," then invariably they carry on with a detailed description of all the crap great stuff to see and do, and then they get all uber-helpful and promise to send me the address of the place and insist that I would simply "love" it. And if I said that I wasn't interested, I'd get the scrunched up frown of disbelief that wordlessly asks "but why not?"

I'm sure most everyone here has been faced with these circumstances, so how do you guys handle it?

I usually say I haven't been their but I've heard of and have seen pictures of it.

[bobcat]

I myself have no problem with places like Choo Choo Barn, Northlands and Wunderland. Each to their own and to me it's all good. I wouldn't build it, but i can enjoy it for what it is.

Now, everytime my father visits, he wants me to add tracks all over the place and asks me each time about missile launchers, unloading milk cans, etc. and it makes me crazy. He doesn't understand at all what I am trying to do. he is a tin plater at heart and at 80, will never change. He forgets though, I am like him, stubborn and won't change either. Ahh, the cycle of life. :

[Dave V]

I'm sure most everyone here has been faced with these circumstances, so how do you guys handle it?

Sometimes I just whip out my iPhone and show them my website.  Usually, my answer is "That's really cool, but it's a little different than what I do.  I'm more into trying to duplicate a specific time and place."

That either stimulates more conversation or causes some discomfort.  If the latter, I change the subject.

Interestingly, it's less the model railroading and more the railfanning that gets the "WTF?"  I had someone at work ask me if I felt compelled to chase trains the way a dog feels compelled to chase cars...  lol.  I just told him "yes."  Later over lunch I whipped out my MacBook and showed the team pictures from a CRHS Rail-B-Q.  Most "got it," and the ones who didn't...  Who cares?   They have to work for me anyway! ;D  They were software engineers...

My fellow meteorologists all understand the train chasing; after all, most of them are part-time storm chasers.  Whereas the tornado intercept for them is more difficult than finding a train, they "get" the thrill of a rare catch.  After all, most storms don't drop tornados, just as most trains don't contain Conrail survivors.

[Puddington]

These layouts are not modeling; they are something else that I can't define......scale and shear size take away my ability to define them.... I love them; they are not "n scale model railroading" by anyone's standards but they are magnificent....... don't compare them to our stuff; they are not comparable... it' s like house league hockey for 10 year olds and the NHL.........same game but..................

Embrace their vastness and enjoy our attention to detail and prototypical fidelity......well, those of you that have fidelity............... ;D