The facade
Crashing locomotive.
Mundo a Vapor — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jeff Belmonte from Cuiabá, Brazil — CC BY 2.0 · Cesar Cardoso from Brasilia, Brazil — CC BY 2.0 · Cesar Cardoso from Brasilia, Brazil — CC BY 2.0 · serrasgauchas — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Cesar Cardoso from Brasilia, Brazil — CC BY 2.0 · Cesar Cardoso from Brasilia, Brazil — CC BY 2.0
Mundo a Vapor, «Steam World», is a theme park in Canela, next to Gramado, showing working miniature replicas of steam-driven machines such as a paper mill, a pottery and a smithy. Its best-known feature is its facade, a life-size recreation of the famous 1895 train accident in Paris, when a runaway locomotive burst through the wall of Montparnasse station. The park was built in the 1990s and opened in 1991 by the Urbani brothers, who grew up in their father Ernesto Urbani's mechanical workshop. In the 1920s that workshop served sawmills driven by large steam engines, when village life revolved around the train from Porto Alegre, and the brothers spent their spare time turning scrap into miniature steam engines that really worked. The park reopened in 2026 after more than a year of works, with a guided visit of about fifty minutes through ten immersive rooms, plus a train ride and a Ferris wheel. Prices and hours change, and it usually closes on Wednesdays; check before going.
Crashing locomotive.
Steam-driven.
And Ferris wheel.
Avenida Don Luiz Guanella, Canela, Rio Grande do Sul
Yes, the miniature machines, train and wheel appeal to children.