End of an era for the largest model railway in southeastern Europe

It’s the end of an era for the largest model railway in southeastern Europe. The Backo Mini Express—a 1.5-kilometer model railway with 150 mini locomotives—has its own museum in Zagreb, Croatia. But despite surviving the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, and two earthquakes that shook the city in 2020, the railway’s aging creator is shutting down the museum for good. Lovingly built by the museum’s owner Antun Urbic and other modelers over the span of some 15 years, the model railway is up for sale. Due to health issues, Urbic is selling his creation and says the museum will close its doors for good unless he finds a buyer for his diorama. The railway boasts some 150 locomotives that run through a landscape filled with thousands of miniature moving figures and buildings, including entire towns. The diorama also features hundreds of tiny lights, winter scenes complete with moving skiers, and a lighting system that simulates day and night cycles. The railway was built gradually over many years by Urbic and a few collaborators. The museum opened to visitors in 2015 and was immediately popular, especially in December, when the city is visited by tourists enjoying its Christmas Market. It was particularly popular with young families. Davorin Orban, the president of the Zagreb Railway Modelers’ Club, says the museum helped show that train modeling is a great hobby for kids that feeds their creativity and gets them away from screens. “We are trying to explain to children that building train models requires knowledge from various STEM areas, which allows them to express themselves and be creative, and means they don’t just have to spend all their time with computers,” he says. The news of Backo Mini Express shutting down has been greeted with heartache in the local train enthusiast community. “It’s an icon in the world of railway models, in this part of Europe. It’s absolutely the biggest, the best made, the best known. And it’s also a very interesting draw for tourists visiting Zagreb, and especially for children. It’s painful to see it shut down,” says Orban. This article was provided by The Associated Press.