Mini World Of Trains (MWOT) is a 501(c)3 non profit that is supported by public and private donations doing business as Miniature World of Trains. MWOT will feature the largest most technically advanced HO (1/87th) Scale Model Railroad in North America to demonstrate how goods are transported around the world via the Miniature World of Trains (MWOT).

MWOT will use computerized and digitally controlled systems to operate hundreds of trains and moving vehicles, thousands of people and trees and hundreds of buildings.

All will be modeled to the highest quality and standards. MWOT will show how transportation and city infrastructures work together. How products are created from raw materials into the products we all use and how these products get from one place to another everyday, worldwide!

MWOT will do this using a miniature world of model trains, vehicles, ships and planes! All in a fun, family friendly, entertaining and educational environment. The museum area will have interactive displays showing the history of transportation with hands on activities, "how to", do it yourself (DIY), classes, a media library and a railroad history museum with full size and scale transportation equipment will be located both inside and outside the facility

MWOT will showcase that in addition to simply moving people and freight, trains are powerful catalysts for local and national economic growth. They are also an instrumental part of the American story, connecting towns and cities, employing millions, and supporting local businesses and communities nationwide.

Railroading is part of America's story from a presidential candidate campaigning across the country, to people traveling to work or for a vacation, trains take us where we need to go. Trains move the bulk of the products we all use everyday. Trains have also inspired more than 900 American songs, dating as far back as 1828.

From big cities to small towns, coast to coast, trains matter because they keep America's towns, economies and communities connected to one another and with the world. The Miniature World of Trains will showcase transportation history from the early 1900's until today. The museum will do this via educational and interactive prototype and miniature displays of Transportation vehicles such as ships, airplanes, trucks, automobiles and railroads. A small railroad history and toy train history area will be located in this museum to complement the Miniature World of Trains.

Visitors to MWOT will be able to see this realistic and prototypical miniature world would operate through dense urban as well as sparse rural landscapes. The purpose of modern railroads, to move heavy freight quickly, efficiently and safely over long distances from factory to your home will be highlighted. This of course has great entertainment value but it also has a not-so-obvious technical educational value.

When the physical operating Miniature World of Trains model railroad is functioning, there will be facilities built in not only to operate the trains and surrounding devices automatically, but also to allow the public to control some of the running trains. A mock-up of a locomotive's operating cab to be located in the future larger location, will provide the guest operator with a realistic interaction with the controls to provide a virtual reality setting for the operator. The guest operator will, through the use of onboard on the Miniature World of Trains model trains cameras, be able to see the passing scenery from the vantage point of the train's Engineer. This will not be a video game - this will be actual remote control of the train resulting in actual viewing of the results of the operator?s actions.

The critical educational opportunity will be the next step. The mock-up of the locomotive cab will be portable. It will be capable of being delivered to a school classroom. Control of the train will be projected over the internet from the classroom to the MWOT facility. Similarly and simultaneously the visual field provided by the onboard camera(s) will be carried over the internet back to the classroom. Potentially this process can be carried out anywhere where the mock-up can be delivered and the internet is available, world wide!

Aside from the sheer fun of doing this, the student(s) will be shown not only what the railroads today do, but also the underlying technology that allows remote control of the model and remote viewing of the results. This remote control comprises a fairly complex set of technologies but the result is immediately clear to the student. Almost every student has some knowledge of trains. The concept of a train is easy to accept at any level of development. The concept of remote control is obviously more complex but there are many examples in our world today.

Coupling the train concept with the remote control concept allows the student to accept the technology on a familiar level. Again, this is not a video game where the moving parts are all bits and bytes and images. MWOT enables a set of real moving objects to be controlled by a guest at a remote location. Our space program (NASA) is a marvelous example of highly sophisticated technology and remote control, but the underlying technology is complex, there are many dangers, and we don?t let very young students participate in the control process.

Clearly, the level of comprehension of the technologies involved is a function of the education and experience level of the students, but there is something to be learned for all students. The "gee-whiz" factor is great. We need to allow our students to be exposed to some "awesome" technologies in order to peak their interest. Hopefully some of the students will be challenged by the technologies and choose to pursue them in their higher education and vocational choices. Some may even choose to pursue a career in one of the many railroad industries. Modern railroads are not the dirty, dangerous and simple technologies of the past. They are technologically advanced infrastructures that require employees who can function in a fast-paced high tech environment.

We need to improve the level of education of our students for tomorrow's workforce. We know that the economic development of the Upstate and the Carolina's can be limited by the educational level of the locally available workforce. Anything that we can do to peak students' interests early in their development can encourage them to pursue technological careers that improve their own job opportunities and enhance the economic engine of the Greenville area.

Miniature World of Trains (MWOT) is a non-profit IRS 501(c)(3) corporation whose goals are to entertain and educate the general public and to develop this facility for the display and operation of transportation systems in miniature using a state of the art model railroad infrastructure spanning significant portions of the United States. Also, MWOT will have a large indoor and outdoor Transportation and toy train history museum in its proposed large venue location.

The model railroad in the larger Miniature World of Trains (MWOT) portion of the facility will run numerous model trains that will simulate the real railroads. This will allow use to use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, as well as the arts, to create a miniature world. All computerized functions of the railroads and highways, including day and night operations, will run the entire operation. Including lighting effects to simulate day and night scenes, including a thunder storm will be shown in the miniature world. Also, lighting effects in the miniature buildings will add realism to MWOT.

There will also be the opportunity for all ages to learn about Transportation systems, green technologies, energy and computers used within the larger MWOT venue where possible.

The larger MWOT venue will also offer "how to" / "do it yourself classes in conjunction with the model railroad industry's World's Great Hobby program and major manufacturers from around the world. MWOT in the larger venue and the current BETA location will educate children and their families on issues of personal safety when it involves transportation, computers and energy related issues. MWOT will focus on keeping children safe on the Internet and teach railroad safety to children, teens and adults via Operation Lifesaver. Other programs pertaining to railroad and highway safety, disaster, high alert and hazardous materials training and equipment requirements of first responders and demonstrate the use of this equipment in miniature.