# Worlds largest Layout



## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

I stumbled across a video called the Worlds largest Layout in Russia. A rich man in Russia is building a layout of Russia with all the cities and towns and it is in a huge building with thousands of sq ft and dozens of people running it and building it. I think it is all in HO gauge, has anyone else seen that?????


----------



## teledoc (Oct 22, 2014)

You should check out another huge layout located in Germany. It is very very impressive, with animated features. Check out www.miniatur-Wunderland.com for a complete tour.


----------



## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I'd take anything coming out of Russia and claiming to be the biggest / best / etc. with a huge grain of salt. 

The only indisputable fact is that they have the largest land area of any country. 

Miniatur Wunderland is very impressive. I was there in early 2004, and it was incredible. I understand they have expanded it quite a bit since, too.


----------



## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

I have seen the one in Germany and taken a tour of the back shop with all; the maintenance and scenery creation folks. Impressive. 

the Russian effort seems to be a monster and I hope it succeeds. However, I won't ever see it 'cause I have no desire to ever go to Russia. I really like Russians - nice folks in every way, but the government, the weather, and the infrastructure (more like infrawreckage if you ask me) are terrible. And air pollution? Wow.


----------



## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

I'll go to Russia someday, just maybe not in this life.


----------



## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

The video is about an hour long and very impressive, I was amazed and still did not see how they made all the cars and trucks run on the roads and even go around accidents, they must have tracks with magnets under the table dragging them around. The control room looks like something out of Nasa with all the people and screens following very train, they must have hundreds of miniature cameras all over that layout.
There was one impressive scene where this young gal was planting tiny fake daisies in a field and there were thousands of them each individually glued in place


----------



## PhillipL (May 5, 2012)

There are some really serious model railroaders in Russia. Piko which manufactures European trains has become producing several Russian prototypes over the last several years. Piko is extremely popular there to the point that the president of the company has begun attending some of there model train shows.


----------



## JNXT 7707 (May 5, 2013)

Here's a link to some photos. Interesting.
http://www.pilentum.de/usa/grand-maket-rossiya-the-largest-model-train-railway-railroad-layout-in-russia-1.htm


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Here are some facts about the Miniatur Wunderland. They're apparently still actively building it: The Wunderland in Numbers

If I ever get back to Germany, this is on my "must see" list.


----------



## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Lee Willis said:


> However, I won't ever see it 'cause I have no desire to ever go to Russia. I really like Russians - nice folks in every way


My neighbors are ruskie immigrants, from all the father's talk Russia is the cat's meow. I, and others in the neighbor have suggested that if it's so great they should go back. 

The kicker? He and his wife BOTH get SS.


----------



## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

JackC said:


> My neighbors are ruskie immigrants, from all the father's talk Russia is the cat's meow. I, and others in the neighbor have suggested that if it's so great they should go back.
> 
> The kicker? He and his wife BOTH get SS.


At the risk of reinforcing a stereotype, that's been my experience with many first generation Americans from Russia, and even many or most who aren't US citizens: they are quick to brag about the greatness of their former home (see my previous post). In the late '80's, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, my ship had the honor of hosting a Soviet ship in Norfolk. We tried to show some of their officers around, and they refused to believe that we were showing them real stores, that anyone who lived here could freely patronize. They were sure it was staged for their benefit (see Potempkin Village). How we managed to drive around at random and let them pick the store, and still only manage to go into "staged" locations was never clear.

And, at the risk of starting a political debate, Russia has state-managed pensions too. But to qualify for Social Security in the US, you have to work here legally, and your benefit is tied to your earnings. Unless he was a political defector who was promised an income in exchange for information, it's not like they just showed up and were given money by the government.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Then again, our government has been doing some odd things lately.


----------



## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Then again, our government has been doing some odd things lately.


I'm not sure 'odd' is necessarily the word I would choose.


----------



## Water Stop (Apr 18, 2015)

My late Mother came to this country from the Soviet Ukraine in 1923, as an 11-year-old girl with her father, aboard the White Star Line's SS Olympic, a sister ship to the Titanic. They traveled second class.

Both ships were built side-by-side at the shipyards in Belfast, Ireland. The Olympic was launched first and did not strike an iceberg and continued in service until scrapped in 1938.

That's all...
Water Stop


----------



## MarkVIIIMarc (Oct 19, 2012)

CTValleyRR said:


> At the risk of reinforcing a stereotype, that's been my experience with many first generation Americans from Russia, and even many or most who aren't US citizens: they are quick to brag about the greatness of their former home (see my previous post). In the late '80's, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, my ship had the honor of hosting a Soviet ship in Norfolk. We tried to show some of their officers around, and they refused to believe that we were showing them real stores, that anyone who lived here could freely patronize. They were sure it was staged for their benefit (see Potempkin Village). How we managed to drive around at random and let them pick the store, and still only manage to go into "staged" locations was never clear.
> 
> And, at the risk of starting a political debate, Russia has state-managed pensions too. But to qualify for Social Security in the US, you have to work here legally, and your benefit is tied to your earnings. Unless he was a political defector who was promised an income in exchange for information, it's not like they just showed up and were given money by the government.


I have been to Las Vegas, Phoenix and New York. I enjoy conversing about them but would not want to live in any of them. No doubt nostalgia runs deep and it is best for the mind to remember the good tiems.


----------



## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Unfortunately Russia is now run by ex KGB crooks and thugs and the course it is taking is now very worrying indeed for the rest of us.


----------



## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

There is always something to worry about. The thing about Russia for me is that the people, individually, are some of the nicest I have ever met. I know several personally and they are well-educated, bright, hard working people all of them, reasonably honest and dependable in their personal dealings, I've found, and fun to hang out with. Russian women, at least a whole lot of them, are gorgeous. and in general theyir culture and background are much closer to our western ways than, say India or China. 

Their government is going things that are worrisome, butfirst and foremost, realize that both for them, and us, its a lot better now than it was before Reagan. Russia now has things like entrepreneurs who built layouts like this, and much more civil freedom, if still less than we have. And the "evil empire" is gone, and the economic, military, and even propaganda cars Putin is holding make a much weaker hand than Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Kosygin had. I'm not saying I'm not worried, as much as I'm not worried mostly about Russia, but its not my main worry.


----------



## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Since we're reopening the mid-summer discussion... I agree with Lee, on both counts. All of the people of Russian ancestry I know are great people, yet with that odd idiosyncrasy of thinking that Mothrr Russia was the greatest place in the world.

Outin doesn't worry me much, either. He's a loud mouthed braggart who just wants to increase his power(and by extension, Russia's. He can be held in check by strong opposition. You know who really scares me? North Korea's Kim Jong Un. He is a spoiled little baby, and I'm not sure he's entirely rational. If Putin wants something, he'll take it if he thinks he can get away without severe consequences. Kim? He's more likely to play the "if I can't have it, no one can" game.


----------



## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

My worry is the reverse of CTVRR. Unfortunately there is no strong opposition to Putin, if he feels threatened he just liquidates them, even if they are in exile. Remember Victor Litvinenco poisoned with plutonium in London? He looks like he wants to resurrect a totalitarian state with him at the head and recapture the soviet satellite states of yore.
Kim Jong Un has strong ties to China, whom I'm sure are more frightened of what he may do than we are. They will keep him in check with all his posturing.


----------



## 400E Blue Comet (Jul 11, 2014)

Northlandz is the largest layout in the United States.
But this person is building ALL OF RUSSIA in a model train layout? That has to be huge. If he's going to do that, HO might be too big. T or even Z would be useful for building an entire country, but HO is medium sized.


----------



## Undermidnight (Jul 23, 2015)

I was in Hamburg in 2012 and was planning to see it. However, work had other plans for me! Didn't get to do much in Hamburg 

Jason


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

400E Blue Comet said:


> Northlandz is the largest layout in the United States.
> But this person is building ALL OF RUSSIA in a model train layout? That has to be huge. If he's going to do that, HO might be too big. T or even Z would be useful for building an entire country, but HO is medium sized.


If you're ever seen Northlandz, it's both impressive and disappointing. It's 99% scenery and 1% action. While it has some great and impressive scenes, the actual action was very limited. There were very few trains actually running, and most of them were a few cars long. I seriously doubt it's the "largest in the US", and certainly there are some far more impressive examples. If they have all the trains their ads say, they should consider running more of them on the display.


----------



## 400E Blue Comet (Jul 11, 2014)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> If you're ever seen Northlandz, it's both impressive and disappointing. It's 99% scenery and 1% action. While it has some great and impressive scenes, the actual action was very limited. There were very few trains actually running, and most of them were a few cars long. I seriously doubt it's the "largest in the US", and certainly there are some far more impressive examples. If they have all the trains their ads say, they should consider running more of them on the display.


I think there were a decent amount of trains running, but what I didn't like was how they only had 1 if any steam engines running. They have steam engines, but none of them are running.


----------



## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

This just came out on Northlandz


----------



## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> If you're ever seen Northlandz, it's both impressive and disappointing. It's 99% scenery and 1% action. While it has some great and impressive scenes, the actual action was very limited. There were very few trains actually running, and most of them were a few cars long. I seriously doubt it's the "largest in the US", and certainly there are some far more impressive examples. If they have all the trains their ads say, they should consider running more of them on the display.


Northlandz is a caricature of a model railroad, it is primarily loops of track where trains can be turned on and left to run without attention, and most of them are on levels that are widely separated vertically with no way of connecting them. I would say that Northlandz was built as a slap in the face to model railroaders who try to recreate a transportation system, it certainly has a large number of square feet devoted to trains but it is not a model railroad. More like a draw for the owner to showoff on the pipe organ which was in the center of the building with a fair sized auditorium. Many of the scenes were jokes, and much of the scenery was done very quickly without any attention to quality, it's big, but not very good.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Well, it took him 20 years to do it, so quickly isn't the adjective I'd use.  

I do agree that other than the size, there was little to recommend it. It was interesting to see, but I have no plans to go back, it wasn't that interesting.


----------



## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Well, it took him 20 years to do it, so quickly isn't the adjective I'd use.
> 
> I do agree that other than the size, there was little to recommend it. It was interesting to see, but I have no plans to go back, it wasn't that interesting.


That would depend on how much of that time was spent on building and how much time it was open for display. There is one very large hillside that is opposite the hotel that is cantilevered over the edge of a cliff. It was framed with 2x4's that were crisscrossed in a square pattern and appears to be covered with plaster soaked paper towels, and the 2x4 framing is painfully obvious when you look at it. It had the appearance of something that was thrown together quickly just to get the opening covered. Needless to say I was not impressed with what he had done.


----------



## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

Bkubiak said:


> I stumbled across a video called the Worlds largest Layout in Russia. A rich man in Russia is building a layout of Russia with all the cities and towns and it is in a huge building with thousands of sq ft and dozens of people running it and building it. I think it is all in HO gauge, has anyone else seen that?????


I watched a video about this layout by one of the people recruited to work on it. If I remember correctly they are picking several recognizable scenes along the route to represent the whole of Russia.


----------

