THE world’s largest model railroad contains 100 trains that travel its eight miles (12.88 km) of track and comes complete with more than 3,000 miniature buildings in cities and villages to make up its uncannily lifelike scenery.

    The incredible railroad layout, nearly 20 years old, is the brainchild of Bruce Williams Zaccagnino and his wife Jean who started the project 44 years ago.

    Zaccagnino owns and operates the attraction, Northlandz Great American Railway, which is located inside of a 52,000-square-foot (4,830-square-meter) complex in Flemington, New Jersey, the U.S.

    The train layout occupies about 16 acres (6.47 hectares) and it takes visitors two to three hours to complete the one-mile long walkway tour.

    The spectacle, which has been open to the public since 1997 and took some 16 years to build, boasts about 500,000 tiny trees, 400 bridges and trestles and 40 feet (12.2 meters) bridges spanning huge canyons.

    Zaccagnino, a multi-award winning computer software game developer and publisher who has Solitare’s Journey and Perfect General credited to his name, loved model trains as a kid.

    However, it was not until he was married that he began building models in his basement as a hobby.

    His hobby got so out of control he eventually added five extra basements to his home in order to house his collection until he finally raised the money to create Northlandz.

    Zaccagnino began working on his lifelong masterwork in 1972 as the couple’s first home was being built, according to the company’s website.

    In his basement, Zaccagnino started erecting scenes for what would become this spectacular railroad layout such as mountain passes, bridges and buildings.

    In 1977, after he completed a fourth addition to the basement of his Flemington home and was persuaded by friends to host an annual train show for a local charity — which quickly began attracting 1,500 visitors daily. In 1997, he started opening Northlandz year round.

    Previously, Zaccagnino said he spent “several million” dollars on the project and had worked 18 to 19 hour days, seven days a week on it. He also said that visitors leave the tour calling it one of the “Wonders of the World.”

    The model railroad has reportedly been visited by celebrities including Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Pee Wee Herman and Patricia Arquette, and was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest model of its kind in the world.

    When visitors embark on the one-mile walkway, they encounter vast valleys, deserts, rain forests, villages, towns, amusement parks, construction sites, Civil War battle scenes and even miniature golf courses.

    They also learn that the route is only in one direction, as they cannot turn back with signs posted along the route reminding them of this as they tour the model railroad, according to the Asbury Park Press.

    “Part of the problem with Northlandz is it’s impossible to describe,” Zaccagnino said in a 2000 interview with the New York Times.

    “People think they know what they’re going to see, but they get here and they love it passionately. One man told me it was a wonder of the world. Those are the kind of emotions it evokes from men, women and children.”

    (SD-Agencies)