model train berlin landscape

i know I appear to be utterly Berlin-obsessed (and I am, but not utterly), but this item I'm posting because it's advertised as the biggest model train landscape in the world! It just happens to be of Berlin.

The company is called X Loxx: Miniatur Welten Berlin, and there's no further explanation on the site for the name of the company, or why in particular they decided to build miniature Berlin scenes (oh yes, even they haven't managed the whole city ... yet) in a model railroad. There's no theory here, just art (as in "artifice".) As far as I can tell, the thing opened in 2004, but again, there's no information on the site so there's no way of knowing.

It's interesting to see the choices they made of Berlin scenes, since the represented 'scapes are, naturally, the most tourist-frequented. It's like a guided tour of Berlin, without all that boring driving.

Being Germans, their concept of necessary website information is different from ours, so they provided this map of the layout of their railway (which you won't need unless you go to see it, at which point they could just hand you a hardcopy ... well, maybe it would be of use to model train builders wanting to duplicate the effort? ... naw, it's just pointless.) But this map is fun to compare to the real transit map of Berlin, right below it.

I'm feeling at the mo' that it might be a stretch to call this landscape "art"---just as it might be a stretch to call Madame Tussaud's figure of Michael Jackson "sculpture"---but, on the other hand, model train landscapes, like painting and sculpture, are both representational and fantastical---and they are so at the desire of their designers.

Have a look at this how-to page for designing a model train landscape.

Just how the landscape on your layout should go is up to you. It doesn't really matter what shape it takes or what colours you decide to use. The realism of the scene will depend entirely on how close to the real thing that you plan your landscape. You can plan to have all flat scenery with bright unrealistic grass colours and have a trainset-like appearance which is produced quickly with little effort on your part or you can study the landscape in the area corresponding to your favourite prototype (whatever it may be) so as to see the type of contours and colours which occur in your chosen area. If you copy these, not necessarily exactly but in a general way, and if you make appropriate use of building trees, shrubs, fences, etc of the correct types to suit the area, then your layout will appear much more realistic.

Does adherence to realism kill the art? Never mind, 'cause there's a whole world here I didn't know about. I might come back to the model trains later.

Comments

[seabert]

Photo of Berlin model: Mr Rogers theme-song and Nazi march song, gently intertwined.