{"id":41612,"date":"2013-11-08T15:12:01","date_gmt":"2013-11-08T20:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=41612"},"modified":"2013-11-08T15:12:25","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T20:12:25","slug":"the-holiday-train-show-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2013\/11\/exhibit-news\/hts\/the-holiday-train-show-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holiday Train Show Returns!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Holiday<\/a>If you can imagine the distant jangle of a steam engine rounding the bend right now, you know just what time of year it is. And no, I don’t mean to suggest that the MTA is bringing back a line dedicated exclusively to old-timey trains. But for the next two months, we<\/em> are. With fall well underway and the snows of winter likely headed in our direction soon, it’s once again time for that beloved yearly tradition of lights, locomotives, and masterful miniature architecture. Starting November 16, the Holiday Train Show<\/a>\u00ae<\/em> returns to the Garden!<\/p>\n

Not that it’s a cakewalk assembling one of the largest train displays in the country. Far from it, in fact. Even now, our horticulturists and visiting model makers are scurrying about the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory<\/a>, preening plant beds, erecting familiar bridges, and making sure that every last one of our trains has enough track to make its all-important rounds. With this year’s exhibition featuring more trains than ever<\/em> before, it’s worth double- and triple-checking the more than quarter mile of railway we’ll be using to accommodate all that traffic.<\/p>\n

Among the new trains joining us this year, we’ve even got a G-scale Metro-North model soon to be zipping its way around a collection of Hudson River Valley mansions in the Conservatory’s Palm Dome pool.
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\nThe mansions themselves, as with each of our dozens of miniature New York landmarks, are assembled entirely from plant parts such as nuts, bark, leaves, and twigs. It sounds a little complicated, and it is, but the model makers aren’t afraid to share some of their secrets\u2014you’ll find the whole building process detailed in The Artist’s Studio, showing step-by-step examples of how these charming buildings come together.<\/p>\n