Isn’t there a large outdoor layout in Sacramento?
Ron, maybe there is; I’ve not heard of it yet, I’m not very knowledgeable of west coast layouts.
But are you perhaps thinking of the Fairplex in Pomona?
Best,
Cliff
Madurodam – The Netherlands in Miniature
We only had time for a quick stop at Madurodam — just long enough to get a taste of what the whole country looks like in 1:25 scale. Nestled in The Hague, this place is a miniature marvel, where the Netherlands has been carefully re-created in exquisite detail: 1:25 scale trains gliding through stations, planes taxiing at Schiphol airport, barges slipping silently along canals, and windmills turning lazily in the breeze. Every brick, tulip, and church spire is built with a watchmaker’s precision.
It’s easy to smile at the charm of it all, but there’s a poignant story beneath the playfulness. The park is named after George Maduro, a Dutch law student who became a World War II resistance hero and died in Dachau in 1945. His parents funded the park in his memory, with proceeds going to help sick and disabled children — so even the tiniest house or bridge here has a quiet sense of purpose.
We wandered through miniature Amsterdam and Utrecht, marvelling at how familiar everything felt. There was the Rijksmuseum in pocket size, Utrecht’s Dom Tower soaring just above the hedges, and the Delta Works flood barriers performing their eternal battle against the sea. Everywhere, small details caught the eye — real water flowing through canals, boats that moved, and tulips planted in perfect rows. If you look closely, a small drawbridge opens, closes and a red truck then crosses and continues on the circuit.
The gardeners (below) even keep dwarf trees pruned to look like proper forests from above.
Put this one on your list. Having been to multiple miniature parks, I believe this is possibly the gold standard in commercial outdoor garden railroading. If you ever want to see the Netherlands in an hour, this is where to do it.
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More great shots, Bill, thanks.
Holy cow. Are there operators of all those vehicles, or is it all automated, or a mix? Like, I didn’t see tracks for the boats, or cables for the planes… Must be automated, right?
Some of it is old school Cliff. The freeway is on chain drive, but the little red truck stops at a recharging point waiting for the bridge to close then follows a route that is probably imbedded under the road. The ships are on some underwater cabling but the speedboats are R/C allowing visitors to direct them.
All makes sense Bill, very cool!
Some of the buildings remind me of the work of this company, which I saw at a trade show 12 years ago. As I recall, they were from Ukraine, so their web site doesn’t work anymore. 
My guess would be it’s some flavor of the Faller car system.
An amazing product line. They did the animated bicycle rider, IIRC.
Im wondering how easy it would be to modify them to work with our scale? I wonder what the sensor range is? I may have to pick up a starter set of these and play with it.
Here is the little red truck in action.