What is Northlandz?

 So far I've done two entries that talked about Train displays that were no longer around in Roadside America and "Railroads in Action". In this blog though, I wanna talk about a train display that's not only still around, but actually got saved. 

It all started in a basement

The story of Northlandz started in 1972 when it's owner Bruce Williams had his first home built. After the construction workers left for the day, Williams would go down to the basement and start creating his own little train layout. 

According to the about us page on Northlandz.com, Williams first started showing off work in 1977, when friends insisted he have a train show for charity. 

Williams would eventually buy land in Flemington NJ, and start to create the building that Northlandz is now in. In the documentary "Some kind of quest", Williams would explain that he would spend a whole day building the current display, with him waking up at 5:30am and ending his work day at 10pm. 

By the time everything was done, Northlandz had 8 miles of track, 200 tunnels, a 35ft canyon, and 400 bridges. 

Not Just a train display 

While trains do take center stage at Northlandz, their not the only attraction. Northlandz also features art pieces that can be seen through out the display. A mini doll museum is featured halfway through the attraction. Finally, there would be a pipe organ that Williams would sometimes play during the day. 

Saved by the business man. 

Earlier in the blog I mentioned how Northlandz was saved. This is thanks to business man Tariq Sohali. According to "Good News Network", Tariq bought the building from Northlandz as he was looking for more warehouse space. Once Tariq saw what was inside, he decided instead of destroying Northlandz, he would save it. 

Northlandz had seen better days by this point. Williams was looking to retire and just couldn't keep up with all the maintenance involved in the display. 

Slowly but surly, the team at Northlandz began to make repairs and changes, some of which can be seen on their Youtube channel. 

 Northlandz has also been taking donations, accepting buildings and trains that can be run on the display. 

While Northlandz still has some repairs to go through, I do appreciate everything the team has done to fix it up, or even improve it. The thing that wins me over with this place is the fact that it was made by one man, and not a team of people like with Minature Wunderland in Hamburg, German. 

As much as I'd like to say I could make a massive train display like this with my eyes closed, I wouldn't know where to start. 

To plan your visit to Northlandz, you can visit their website by clicking here.