By S. MITRA KALITA
The Associated Press

FLEMINGTON, N.J. -- Bruce Williams Zaccagnino has built more than a minitrain museum here. He's created a miniworld, a model train layout beyond the wildest dreams of the typical basement hobbyist.

Grand cities, towns and villages with towering mountains, meandering streams and lakes form the backdrop for eight miles -- yes, eight miles -- of track that run about 130 trains at a time.

It's listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the ''largest model railway.''

But it's the tiny details that mesmerize those not into trains -- the little house with fingernail-sized old men chatting on porch rockers in Eisleyville, Pop. 27, while an even smaller girl jumps rope nearby.

Six-year-old Ian Lowry comes for the trains. His vocabulary includes the words ''Conrail,'' ''Burlington Northern,'' ''steam'' and ''coal.'' The first-grader takes double the usual two hours needed to get through the exhibits because he likes to stop and watch each train go by. On a recent rainy Sunday, on his second visit to the 52,000 square-foot museum, Ian seemed to know every inch.

''There's one of my favorites,'' he says, pointing to a locomotive about to round a mountain. ''It's a diesel. In a little while, it'll be crossing that bridge.''

Northlandz, as the place is known, sits near Route 202 in a three-story gray-columned building fronting the highway. Mr. Zaccagnino, Northlandz' bearded, floppy fedora-wearing chief executive officer and mastermind, knows most of the attraction's 250,000 visitors a year aren't like Ian.

''Four out of five people don't want to be here,'' he says.

Painstaking details

For those who aren't model railroad buffs, there's the 94-room doll mansion made by the proprietor's wife, Jean. Northlandz claims it's the world's largest. There's a room of collectible dolls displayed in cases. And local artwork displayed throughout.

A massive 2,000-pipe organ, reminiscent of the days of silent movies, is the centerpiece of a 250-seat concert hall. For an additional charge, patrons can ride a larger-scale outdoor model railroad that loops around Northlandz.

But it's the artistry and quirkiness of the painstakingly detailed scenery -- which forms the backdrop for the model train layout -- that gives Northlandz its distinctive flavor. Realism sometimes gives way to whimsy.

''It's not about trains. It's the scenery and the artistry, the engineering and the bridges,'' Mr. Zaccagnino insists.

The minutiae include an amusement park in the middle of a blackout and a plane crashed into the side of a mountain. There are grocery stores, Pizza Huts, ice cream joints, hotels, churches and a monastery.

Built five additions

Mr. Zaccagnino, like many model railroaders, started his layout in the basement of his Three Bridges home about 25 years ago. He and his wife owned a hobby shop and he dabbled in real estate.

He didn't stop expanding his layout when he ran out of room. Eventually, he built five additions to accommodate it.

Twice a year, the Zaccagninos would open the place to the public, charging admission and donating proceeds to charity.

When Mr. Zaccagnino eventually ran out of room at his home, he bought the Route 202 property and got to work -- again. Almost all of his basement wonderland had to be demolished.

In December 1996, the Zaccagninos and the train collection moved into Northlandz. What had been a consuming hobby now became a way of life. But in a way, the trains are still in the basement. The two live above the museum.

Mr. Zaccagnino is still itching to build. He says Northlandz will be renovated and expanded soon.

Right now, there's enough material to build 42 good-size houses, 40,000 feet of track and more than 400 bridges.

And the reminders of his whimsical nature, brought to life with some plaster, card stock, paint and a steady hand -- the world's largest toothpick farm, tombs of the unknown hobos and ''Roscoe's Junkyard'' of broken trains -- dot the landscape.

This brand of humor doesn't come out of a model kit.

''It's out of my head,'' Mr. Zaccagnino says. ''This whole thing's just out of my head.''

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