Whenever I think of the holidays, I cannot help but wax nostalgic about the Lionel train that wrapped around my childhood Christmas tree. While a simple setup, it was enough to give us hours of enjoyment, and encouraged me to start looking for a model train for my family.

My search took an extreme detour when I discovered Miniatur Wunderland, the world’s largest model railroad. Located in Hamburg, Germany, the model spans 68,889 sq ft with 39,370 ft of HO scale track, 900 trains with 12,000 wagons, 300,000 lights, 215,000 trees, and 200,000 human figurines. Words cannot due this justice, so I included the official video below:

Now I just need to figure out how I can fit this under the tree.

[Via Gizmodo]

I just stumbled upon this video and was amazed that this insanely small V-12 engine was handmade using traditional methods. From YouTube:

v-12 engine with compressed air injection, hand made using taditional methods: 12 cm3 of displacement, the diameter of the cyllinder is 11,3 mm, the stroke of the pistons 10mm, it works with only 0,1kg/cm2. Is constructed with stainless steel, aluminum and bronze. Patelo dedicate this engine to his grandchildren: Sara, Carmen, Jose and Pablo. This engine is for education, exhibitons, etc., that is the reason to work with compressed air, to avoid contamination. He has made the plans and all parts, except the screws. The engine is not for sale. Thanks to everybody for the comments and sorry for my bad English.

[Via Reddit]