Similar to our 13 Days of Halloween Countdown, today we’re debuting
the 12 Days of Christmas — 12 days of blogs, articles, recipes, essays and
more to help your family make its holiday celebration particularly bright this
year. Today we’re kicking off the fun with a round-up of the holiday train
shows in the city, a wonderful Christmas tradition that is especially special
in New
York City! Check out our favorites below, and stay tuned for the rest
of our holiday coverage, right up to Christmas eve!
—
New York Botanical Gardens Holiday Train Show. If you’ve never been to the New York Botanical Garden’s Holiday Train Show, this is the
year to start making it a tradition! The celebrated show features a G-scale
model train and 140 of New York’s landmark buildings, like Yankee
Stadium and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, all constructed from plant parts like
nuts, pine cones and leaves. Plus, this year the Garden added a 20-square foot
reincarnation of the original Penn Station. The train show is open through
January 10th. Adults are $20, kids are $15. If you can, try to schedule your
visit before the week of Christmas, as ticket prices increase by $5. For more
info, click here.
Grand Central
Station Holiday Train Show. Grand Central Station is a beautiful destination this time
of year, particularly with the annual addition of the Holiday Train Show. Kids
will love this two-level, 34-foot train layout, that features a Lionel train as
it travels through a mini Manhattan to Santa’s residence in the North
Pole. The exhibit also features New York City Transit’s R-16 and R-30 Subway
Sets, which join the R-27, Metro-North, Long Island Railroad, New York Central,
and Pennsylvania Railroad cars—ensuring every mode of rail transportation is
represented! Models of vintage trains will also be on display. The exhibit will
be on display Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m.,
through January 17th. Admission is free. For more info, click here.
Lionel Holiday Pop-Up Store. While this isn’t necessarily a
holiday display, it’s a store full of trains — perfect for the train
enthusiast and a great stop while you’re making your rounds of holiday displays
of trees and lights! Families can head to%uFFFD1095 Avenue of the Americas (41st St)%uFFFDto see Lionel Trains whizzing
through the store alongside a festive Christmas tree. The Pop-Up store is open 10 a.m.-
9 p.m. on
weekdays and 11 a.m.- 7 p.m. weekends. You just might find a last-minute
Christmas gift. For more information visit here.
The Westchester Toy Train Show. If your family is spending time in Westchester this weekend, check out this famous
train show taking place at the Westchester County Center. Heralded to be the largest toy
train show in New York, this exhibit has been around for
27 years!%uFFFD For more info, click
here.
The Staten
Island Society of Model Railroaders’ Annual Holiday Train Show.%uFFFD Staten Island families can check out this annual
train show which will debut at the Cloves Lakes Health Center this weekend. At the show, kids can
check out operating HO, O and S scale model railroad layouts and pose for
photos with Santa. Plus, train sets will be raffled off at the end of each day.
For more info, click
here.
