Permanent Layouts on Display

[serenityFan]

Hi all,

 

I'm planning a trip across parts of Europe (London - Paris - Brussel - Amsterdam - Essen - Munich) and I was wondering if anyone here can recommend some pretty layouts on display that I might be able to find in my path...

 

Maybe something like this http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/

Only problem, Hamburg is not exactly in my travel plan...

[Martijn Meerts]

Miniatur Wunderland is worth a visit, but you need to plan to be there for at least 5-6 hours, and even then you won't be able to see everything. I went there a bit over a year ago and took a behind the scenes tour as well. It's all really rather impressive. In the end though, I think they went overboard, and started sacrificing details for size. Some parts look very rushed, and on the whole the layout is lacking in atmosphere.

 

There is a layout in Rotterdam though, which is real easy to reach if you're in Amsterdam. It's about a 10 minute walk away from the Rotterdam central station. The place is called "Railz miniworld", and is nowhere near as big as Miniatur Wunderland, but it has a lot of charm and atmosphere going for it. I might be biased being Dutch and Railz Miniworld using a Dutch prototype, but hey =) Their homepage is at www.railzminiworld.com

[Darren Jeffries]

Pecorama is worth a look in Devon, England. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive out of London:

 

Address: Peco, Beer, Nr. Seaton, Devon EX12 3NA, England

Tel: +44 (0)1297 21542      Fax: +44 (0)1297 20229

 

Also up here in my neck of the woods, Bourton model railway. About 1.5 hours from London:

 

Bourton Model Railway, Box Bush, High Street, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. GL54 2AN

Tel: 01451 820686

email:  info@bourtonmodelrailway.co.uk

 

and finally, Modelmania in Bristol. 1.5 hour train or 2 hour car ride from London:

13 Clouds Hill Road,  St George, Bristol,  Avon , BS5 7LD

01179 559819

Opening Hours: TUE-FRI 9.30am-6pm, SAT 9am-5pm

[to2leo]

miniatur-wunderland is not to be missed in Hamburg and LAXX in Berlin too!  Also, if you love trains, you should definitely visit more of Germany.  Munich has a few hobby shops around the train station area.  Do a simple google search and you will find them.

 

Have fun in Europe, I will be in the Med for a month in April.

[serenityFan]

Thanks for all the info guys ... I'll have to see which one I can actually go to. Of course i should see plenty of prototypes, at the very least I'm taking the Eurostar out of London and also around Germany with intercity trains  ;D ;D

[Martijn Meerts]

You should take a trip on the ICE and travel first class... Last time I travelled in Germany by train I had to go from Hamburg to Cologne, which is about 4 to 4.5 hours or so. Reserved first class seats on the ICE, and while quite a bit more expensive, it was well worth it. Lots of space to relax, good service and very comfortable.. Trip felt way too short =)

[to2leo]

Hey Martjin,

I can totally relate, my travel buddy and I sat at the first row of the ICE-T and watch the driver drives the train close to 300km/h going from Munich to Berlin.  That was quite an experience to remember...we got chocolates from DB too!

[serenityFan]

Sounds like real fun .... unfortunately due to the economic crisis, my wife and I have have postponed our trip. So I have to wait some more before I can ride the trains across europe  :(

[scott]

Dang--sorry to hear that.

[Bernard]

Serenity - just saw this post, sorry to hear that you had to postphone your trip. A lot of us are in the same situation, we've had to cut down our expenses and I think most people have too.