I had the fortune to visit The Miniature Wunderland back in 2014. Spent a good day and a half there. The behind the scenes tour was great. Particularly how they handled the airplanes after landing and their system for charging the hundreds of trucks and automobiles on the layout.
The planning behind things is really incredible. One example each mainline has two trains. One running and one on a siding. This is because the motors of the engines can over heat. In the staging area every 24 inches or so they had a separate smoke detector. At the time they had around 300 full time employees and they have grown a good deal since.
Link to two of their Monaco Videos https://youtu.be/CqT0u6QDJtg?si=rkDysgDH_4USflmN
https://youtu.be/EwLr4LOgi_U?si=oK9Lij3-PUmDkHNp
My N-scale office layout in 2011 pales in comparison. https://youtu.be/DBJIwmpYzY4?si=DRgr6O-7CZUJm-gs
Ironically I ended my tour of Europe at the Monaco Grand Prix. (Thank you Starwood points.)
In some videos you see glimpses of computer screens that control the cars, the UI looks very fascinating (lots of checkboxes, and status lines).
It's a 2D linear motor. That's been tried for robotics a few times. Here's a theory paper.[1] The Minatur Wunderland version doesn't use coils, just straight PCB traces, which is simpler but draws more current. The duty cycle is low, since there aren't that many cars for the amount of track space. They probably have an intermittent overheating problem with the track, the drivers, or both.
Here's a Hackaday version of a 2D linear motor.[2]
Festo has a commercial version that's maglev, too, for moving small stuff around in factories, but it hasn't sold much. It's one of those ideas that's cool, but rarely useful.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095741582...
https://old.reddit.com/r/formuladank/comments/1ayuttc/they_m...
I think OP video is the same what’s linked above.
If you just want to get a quick 15 second gist of it, watch the video above.
Love that! For me, there’s nothing quite like having a programming project you are excited about to get in the flow and have time melt satisfying by.
My dumb engineering mind couldn't help but think - maybe solve the full-scale technical problems before you add all the bushes. Makes servicing so much harder.
But man, it's super pretty.