I was a club member of SDSON for 28 years before I moved to the Midwest. And for almost the last five years ending in 2020, I used to be the daytime N-scale layout operator for San Diego Society of N-scale at The San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. That Layout is a great one. It's 100 foot long by 28 feet wide, and it's all hand laid code track, and it's also all DCC controlled. It's a Fantastic layout to run on. I sure do miss it!

The largest layout I have ever seen has been in Hamburg, Germany. They have over 10,000 square feet of layout that incorporates thousands of buildings (all lit) as well as four levels of train action--all HO. On a "typical day," as many as 40 trains and many highway vehicles are running simultaneously--all computer controlled with trains (both passenger and freight) entering and departing from several stations as they may their way around the layout. The layout represents five major German states--and even one U.S. State (California where the Tehachapi Loop is). The amount of detailing is incredible and includes a replica of the Octoberfest in Munich as well as an ongoing outdoor concert complete with continuous music. My favorite detail includes a nude beach along a river--complete with sun tanning "patrons." To enjoy all the things to see takes a full day OR you can go to KZfaq, do a search for Miniatur Wunderland, and watch video provided by the location.

I drove the 14 freeway through the Tehachapi mountains quite often and I have to say, this is a very accurate layout of the scenery. Well done.

The Tehachapi Pass layout is quite good, beautifully detailed and representative of California's hills. It's good because in modeling a specific line, it's not just tracks everywhere with toy trains racing around too fast. Certain scenes, like the loop and Caliente are very accurately modeled. It's one of the best if accuracy is important to you.

The Backdrop on the Tehachapi Pass Layout is the Scenery you see there, they nail it. I see it everyday.

The Goat Canyon trestle on the SD&AE layout is a masterpiece. Unfortunately, due to physical constraints, it's placed in a highly compressed canyon scene that limits its visual appeal. The compromise of model railroaders everywhere. It should be noted that the Tehachapi layout is prototypically accurate down to the fence posts. The entire layout is modeled from photographs, many of which are era specific. It's astonishing what the members have created.

Back in the late 80’s and until the mid 90’s, I was active duty in San Diego. I was a member of the LaMesa model railroad club. This brings back many memories.

I remember the Museum layouts starting from my time living in Ssn Diego (1983-1992). Even purchased a bumper sticker that reads "You should see the trains in our basement," as a keepsake (still have it, never mounted on a car, during the subsequent 35+ years. Finally paid for a lifetime membership 10 years ago. I, sadly, havent been back down to San Diego since moving in 1992, but I proud of the work that the clubs have done over, now, couple of generations - in particular, the field trips that members made from San Diego to Tehachapi Pass to record the landforms and vegetation, and accurately re-create them in scale. Thanks for the video!!

IMPRESSIVE! The backdrop paintings blend in flawlessly with the landscape scenery on the Tehachapi layout. I also enjoy seeing the structures found in a rural setting.

I love the LaMesa Tehachapi layout, it’s probably one of my all time favorites. I was fortunate to run some trains on it several times while I lived in Southern California. - Steve

13:41 - Goat Canyon Trestle, that looks very close to the real Goat Canyon Trestle.

I first visited the museum in 1960 while serving in the U S Navy. Then about 10 yrs ago visited again while the loop was being constructed. If you ever get close to San Diego this is well worth your time for a visit!!!😀😀😀

A very fortunate group of modelers to have such an expanse of area for a model railroad. They've done very well to earn that place. Another large club railroad in HO is the Colorado Model Railroad in Greely, CO. Well planned and well managed with a well-funded future. A large privately owned model railroad is the Wyoming Division Historical Society in Cornville, AZ, southwest of Sedona, AZ about 10 miles. While the name may sound stuffy, the layout is spectacular and the employees very welcoming to visitors. Quite a few videos on KZfaq of that 3,000 square foot empire of the UP line from Cheyanne, WY to Ogden, UT set in the 1954-time frame.

The largest lay out I've seen is the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg Germany. It a layout you got to see (I live only 100 miles away, so I've visited it so far 128 times since the opened in 2001.

The accurate running speeds, and the remarkably large area really does a great job of perfectly presenting in accurate scale the tedium of train operation. well done.

This was the largest layout. I was born in San Diego and was a member of this club for awhile. Back in the 80’s. Great group. Great club to visit.

Thanks for the tour, Mike! In 2001 my parents selected San Diego as our family gathered to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. One of the days was spent at Balboa Park and I was lucky enough to catch 'the crew' on a work day. While talking to one of the members I mentioned I was a member of a 'hometown club' in NorCal, and he immediately invited me "behind the rope" and gave me the world's BEST tour! He took me into 'member-only' areas, explained everything from Ops to MoW to running shows. His pride was obvious in his presentation; he never failed to explain detailed answers to my millions of questions, even let me run a Yard Job for a few minutes. I forgot what modeling expertise he specialized in, but it was obvious there's no lack of incredibly talented people at this club. While this club is staggeringly beautiful, I want to congratulate not just the LMMRRC and SDMRRC as a group, but the the whole hobby - which has such a welcoming spirit to first-time outsiders - because the next visit, you're considered a friend! Ken Patterson likes to call Model Railroading the World's Greatest Hobby - which it is BTW! But it's because of the people, not just the trains. I've made more life-long friends from train connections than everything else combined. As I enter my 18th year of battling terminal cancer, I can't say thank you enough to all the men and women that I now call friends... and to those new friends I'm waiting to meet. Red And Gray All The Way - I still go by 'The Ghost Of The SP!'

And ending with the Aerotrain. Outstanding work on everything!

This is a Master Class of scenic ideas and modeling skills. Thank you for sharing !

👍 I love Train's

I was a Chainman on a Kern County survey crew from 1964 to 1969, and we did a lot of surveys in the area modeled here. I am planning to retire soon and in making that decision I turned to model railroading to fill my time. One idea I had was to model the line from the Santa Fe RR yard in Bakersfield to Tehachapi since I was so familiar with that area. I started surveying the alignment of the tracks (using Google Earth) to establish a centerline. I used Blender to convert Lat & Long to California Zone 5 Coordinates and input them to AutoCAD files so I could map the track with software I am familiar with. I mapped the tracks from Bakersfield to the famous Tehachapi Loop and started planning my model layout. At that point I discovered just how big that project actually is. I am 82 now and can not handle small scale projects. I have to model with 'O' gage or larger. An 'O' gage model at full scale would have to be 2 miles long. Talk about monstrous! Well I scaled back my ambition to fit what will go in my garage and wound up with a 8' X 24' layout. All that mapping I did is now just record files in my computer.

I have grown up in San Diego but have never visited this train layout. I now reside in Poway, but I will make an effort to get down to Balboa and visit this train set!

The best model railroad layout I ever had the pleasure to see in person was the Gore and Daphetid (sic)in the basement of the home of John Allen in the Monterey area of California. In 1970 I was stationed at Fort Ord and a friend of mine took me along with him to see the famous layout. Unbelievable !!! Not long after John Allen died and the faulty furnace (he never turned on) was turned on by someone and it started a fire that destroyed most of the layout. Terrible loss as his friends were hoping to move it out and display it publicly.

MiniaturWunderland in Hamburg, Germany, Europe: 1231 Züge, longest train: 14,51meter, 16kilometer railroads, almost 300.000 figures, more than 12.000 waggons. Half million LEDs. 150.000 trees.

This layout, the Modelbundesbahn in Germany, and Pendon in the UK, are some of the best display layouts for historical accuracy. What these teams create is an absolute labor of love.

Loved visiting this layout when we were in Balboa Park . The biggest oo guage layout I have seen is at Miniture Wunderland in Hamburgh Germany. Well done.

Just absolutely magnificent.

Amazing layout.

Makes me want to see a Wile E. Coyote type track, with tunnels popping out everywhere through craggy gorges, and a train going every which way, chasing a little tiny motorised coyote along the tracks. I'm SURE you all know the Roadrunner cartoon I'm thinking of.

Pretty cool!

This backs up the premise that "less is more."

[thank, you for you're great video]👍

WOW!

Awesome layout ❤

I enjoy going to Balboa park in San Diego. I try to stop into the train club each time.

When you're visiting Western New York, check out the Medina Train Museum. Always a fun visit.

I used to go every weekend when I live in San Diego. Great place

Amazing layouts! What I like about that tehachapi layout is the vast scenery expanses with just one track running through it. It’s very realistic and makes you feel like you’re actually watching a real train traverse there. It’s nice to see a club layout with exceptional scenery and realism. I see way too many modelers, especially club layouts, that focus too much on the trains and how many tracks they can fit on their layout rather than the scenery and the realism. I get some clubs try to maximize the amount of trains they can run at one time so more of their members can be involved on ops days, but sometimes when you add too many tracks, it detracts from the overall quality and realism.

So nice of KZfaq to recommend this even though I've never searched for anything like this...however i did take a video of the wichita toy train museum today so I guess that's how they know ..

Thanks for posting. I loved that you included the members operating their enormous HO layout. That gives us viewers a true perspective of just how big the La Mesa club layout is. The club I belong to here in South Australia has a layout 100' long by 14' wide. It does not compare to the Tehatchapi layout.😄 Cheers Ken

I was fortunate enough to go to Hamburg, Germany and visit the Miniature Wonderland (in German Miniature Wuderlund) display. It's the worlds largest model railroad display as well as the largest active airport model. Definitely worth the trip!

Outstanding ,well worth a long visit !

Very Nice..!

The largest model train layout I ever saw in person was Roadside America in Pennsylvania. Sadly, think it was torn down a few years ago. It was done in O scale 3 rail but it was a replica of Reading PA, in the 20's to 50's. The largest home layouts I have seen were Chuck Ellis' and David Barrows when I was a kid. Being a 3 rail O scale modeler I wish you had videoed the O scale layout in San Diego.

Heading back to Minatur Wonderland in early Aug 2024. Went 10 years ago and it's doubled in size since then.

The largest I have personally seen was the Geoffrey Humann O scale layout of the Southern Pacific Line from Roseville to Mount Shasta City California. It was at his Ranch outside of Gerber California. He also had a large collection of operating steam tractors and a life size European narrow gauge railway that ran around his ranch.

Incredible👍 I’ve been there😉 there is another nice layout at the Vista Ca Tractor Museum

Another big layout is the Pasadena Model Railroad Museum. The club operates a 5000 sq ft layout. 84 years young.

I saw this layout when my parent’s and me were on a trip, back in 1968, i think.

WOW, AWESOME

I was infected with the need for trains around 1953. Largest layout? That is mathematical. Model Railroads are art. Size? Get serious. The art of Model Railroading is in the eye of the creator(s). You can comment, discuss, value ... most importantly enjoy. But judge by size? Every time I see this layout I just want to spend days there. Thank you for the great video, and to all at the LMMRC, from conception to operation. Thank you.

One of the most fantastic layouts I've ever seen!! If you're into model trains or just trains in general, it is well worth the price of admission. Don't forget to see the N-cale layout; amazing!! Check out why the fire department was called to somebodys back yard swimming pool!!!!

Northlandz, in Flemington, NJ. I don't know the size of the layout, but it takes the better part of a day to go through

A bit more realism could be attained by stringing "telephone wires" on the telephone poles along with a few call boxes along the way. I realize that walkie-talkies are the standard way of communicating, but it helps to have back-up options in such a sparse and (in some ways) inhospitable terrain. I did that with my layout--and the local "citizens" appreciate the convenience thereof.

Pretty cool!!

Nice! Biggest I've seen is the Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley, CO. It rivals this one, but both are awesome.

8:14 nice to see the Katy)

Save your nickels and go to Hamburg, Germany. Their HO layout is second floor of warehouse including European highlights like Vatican, Berlin, london, etc. It is a business. Charge admission. Paid employees. Swiss mountains. About three hours to go thru.

It is a GREAT layout, unique in many ways that sets it apart from other layouts. I have run here many, many times and it is a close to a 'real railroad' as you can get. This was not an OPS session as LMMRRC OPS sessions are 50's only.

Very unusual plugin for the NCE controller. It looks as though in place of the RJ11 (Ethernet) plug there using a... appears to be a DB-type plug.

Wow!

The largest layout I've seen is at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, but this one looks far more impressive. Thanks for a great video.

Great layout could be even better with moving cars!

Wow

Whichever you need - today you need a ton of money to build a large size layout. The Engines and cars alone are extremely expensive - wire, lumber, electrical parts, track, scenery, etc are also very expensive. It is not a kids hobby anymore. My friend and myself started this hobby many years ago and pricings were high but as a teenager affordable. Now it is ridiculous in the prices it would take to build our same layouts. Good luck if you want to get into this hobby.

Twice the speed starts looking realistic

Roslyn 's Model Trains at Valley Heights NSW Australia Bigges Privately owned in Southern Hemispere

I LOVE TRAINS but it always seems so still with a realistic layout the train is the only thing in motion that’s it

Great video! The biggest layout I have seen, was at the Choo Choo Barn in Pennsylvania! 👍🏻🇺🇸

That's a very impressive layout. It's been featured in MR a couple times. But it's a prime example that shows even in s vast expanse like that, sound units are way over done. Hearing all those engines whining away would drive me nuts. It's like standing on the jet way next to an airport terminal! Still don't think it's as big as the North Metro Model Railroad Club's layout.

intro gave me a good laugh

I saw the one in Hamburg, Germany

Biggest I've seen is Prairie Scale Model Rail Roaders in Lombard, illinois

probably between the Miniture wunderland and Legoland miniland Billund :)

Then you should go to Northlands, it’s twice as big

Hey Mike how are you doing well got bought computer for my room in the fall back hobby got computer for early birthday I also just been busy man I recently got sick from covid I feel a lot better now i hope your doing well new mkt layout

I've been to the San Diego model railroad museum it's fantastic there are no words for it

Wow, nice layouts, but you weren't lucky at all. Lines featuring the SP, and not a single piece of SP power was run. I did like that SD24 run, though. But man.... no SP. That hurt a bit.

Great layout however

Fact the national Endowment for the arts doesn't Recognize model railroading as a art form.

The model has buildings that might have been present in 1950's but doe not stay in character since this rout was one of the great grades where Southern Pacific used Cab Forward 4-8-8-2 steam engines to pull the freights up the hill to Tehachapi. during the fifties and sixties is when the RR converted to diesel but the engines in this video are way beyond the size and power of the diesels used in that early time. In the 1960's, I was on a survey crew that surveyed the road through Caliente where the famous Caliente Loop makes a horseshoe turn. At about 11 min, 22 sec you can see a train passing through that curve. The curve is so tight that you can hear the wheels scrubbing on the rails and a fine dusting of steel flakes comes off every car going around that curve. Those buildings had to be from the early 50's because they were largely gone in the middle 60's. Today, the only building left is a private home and the U.S. Post Office.

Why no graffiti on the cars?

Calling the San Diego creation a "layout" just doesn't seem to give adequate credit. It's a "model railroad" in so many senses of the term, with prototypical operations complemented by extraordinary scenery that mirrors the route of the rails over Tehachapi.

What's happening here? Is this a model train video or an organ video?

All the trains I see are doing about 20 miles per hour. I guess they have no judgment of track speed lol

So boring watching endless freight grinding along.

There's some annoying fault with your editing. White flashes between scenes. Urgh. Going elsewhere.

This vid is about Le mesa, not wonderland in Germany. Some folks just like to gab on. This is a wonderful layout. Brilliant model of a great bit of railroad.👍🏽

Beyond EXCEPTIONAL, but where is the GRAFFITI, which exists now on MOST of the rolling stock...It has a GREAT layout, but without graffiti, it lacks this aspect of realism. It's GREAT though.

I visited there a number of years ago. Very slick stuff. They did a great job.