Conception of the Wunderland

How was the decision reached?

Before this dream became reality, one thing had to be ensured: the adventure must not totally destroy their existence as discotheque and music label owners which the Braun brothers had built up over years.

It had to be clarified, whether the dream was financially feasable at all, if enough visitors would come, whether the technical realisation was possible, and whether there was an appropriate place available in Hamburg where the world’s largest model railroad could be established.

In order to find out if it is possible to cover expenses with enough visitors, they decided to carry out a survey. More than 3,000 persons with different social demographic attributes were questioned via Internet, and were supposed to rate which of the 45 attractions listed, some of them fictitious, they would visit in Hamburg.

The invented Miniatur Wunderland concept came in third place considering men’s voting, but was rated on the very last place considering women. Despite this ambiguous result the twin brothers had made up there mind: “WE ARE GOING TO BUILD THE LARGEST MODEL RAILROAD IN THE WORLD.“

Why Hamburg, why the Speicherstadt (Warehouse District)?

“Hamburg is the most beautiful and most perfect city in the world“, Frederik as well as Gerrit will answer, when being asked about their home city. Both of them are citizens of Hamburg with all their heart, and are closely connected to the city, and furthermore, they feel committed to it.

They agreed that the world’s largest model railroad has to be in Hamburg. The search for an appropriate location within the city proved difficult. A location had to be found which was attractive, and easy to reach for tourists and Hamburg’s inhabitants, and which offers floor space of about 2,000 sqm per floor and has potential for expansion.

Moreover, its architectural style has to be suitable for a model railroad, and the lease price has to be acceptable. With the help of the Chamber of Commerce a contact was made to Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA). The HHLA was instantly enthusiastic about the idea and offered the spaces at Kehrwieder at fair conditions. And that is how the location was found.

How was the Wunderland financed?

It didn’t take long to realise that a model railroad of that size and the planned attention to detail will be very expensive and can only be financed by loans. The Braun brothers took an A4 sized paper with a draft of their idea and went to their bank asking for a credit of 2 million D-Mark.

Both of them were sure that bankers would be laughing at them – 2 million D-Mark, an A4 sized paper and a dream of a model railraod… That doesn’t necessarily sound plausible to a banker – they thought. The more they were surprised when the bank soon granted the loan.

With hindsight, the calculation turned out to be completely wrong as out of 2 Mio. D-Mark became more than 7.3 Mio. Euros to this day. Fortunately they misjudged the number of visitors as well – in June 2007 the 4 millionth visitor was expected. And so the bank granted two more increases.

At this point it has to be mentioned that the Miniatur Wunderland, unlike most other exhibitions of this size, goes without any kind of government aid. The construction phase after the resolution was made to build the largest model railroad of the world, the two brothers drove around Germany and looked at different model layouts.

Hundreds of ideas were explored to create a model train experience that would be entertaining for the whole family. Enclosing a facility behind a window pane wouldn’t be part of the plan, but instead the idea was to create a giant, immersive experience.

“Our idea was to build a world that men, woman, and children can be equally astonished and amazed in”, says the co-creator Gerrit Braun of the philosophy.

With this philosophy and thousands of ideas they drove to Gerhad Dauscher in the city of Mühlhausen (near Neumarkt). Gerhard was infected immediately with the concept and dropped all his contracts and appointments. This day played a large role in the Miniatur Wunderland being what it is today.

Prior to construction, a team had to be assembled. For this, the three held a model construction casting, with over 150 persons applying and 40 being short-listed to attend. Based on the casting, Gerhard assembled a team of model creators, of which up to 95% were not classical model-makers, but instead excellent craftsmen.

In this way, the construction of the Miniatur Wunderland that exists today began. The original layout was 1000 square meters, with many more today and planned up until 2014. In our Weekly Reports you will find documentation about the construction progress and other timely information.