I was wondering if anyone remembers the Dells MINIRAMA? If so, do you have pictures or home movies of the operation? Or anything else? Thanks,
Jeff Haertlein
I do remember Minirama, it was located on the south side of the main street about a block from the Milwaukee Road main line. I first saw it in 1965, and was there for about another two or three years.
I still have one of there advertising flyers some place. It was o scale and was a model scene of the Wiscomsin Dells area and included real water and operating tour boats which were towed by locomotives that ran on rails under the water. It was very impressive.
John Sawaska
John: Yes, you are correct as to it's location, and it was an impressive operation! Even the staging area in back was cool to watch.
Jeff
Minirama was featured on the cover of Model Railroader June 1965. An interesting contrast between that cover and standard practice today: the color photo is run full size and no words shout out the contents of the magazine.
The interior article was primarily about the unusual issues of wear and tear that the layout experienced due to the size and weight of the O scale engines and the fact that they ran all day long.
Dave Nelson
The Wisconsin Historical Society has some photos of Minirama in it's online collection. Click here and you can search for them.
Yes, Thanks, I am aware of the Society, and I have actually ordered a couple of their prints. They are really good prints, and quite sharp, and bring back memories of the diorama.
Thanks Dave: Yes, that cover is a neat picture of the MINIRAMA, and it was an interesting comment you made about the cover layout...now that you mention it, I am glad they did not slap all kinds of other copy over that geat shot of MINIRAMA. I did buy a large print from the Historical Society of that same picture.
Also RMC did a quick photo story on the MINIRAMA that same year. Wish more articles had been written.