|
Central Park, credit: New York Botanical Garden |
You have just one more week to see The Holiday Train Show at
the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, and this year you can get closer to
it than ever because of the show’s layout in a new space while the Palm Dome is
undergoing restoration. The 28th version of the
Holiday Train Show® at
The New York Botanical Garden showcases Central Park, the most popular
urban park in America, along with some of the city’s favorite landmarks. The
beloved holiday event continues through January 26 and is a don’t-miss for
architecture fans, city fans and train fans of all ages.
|
TWA Terminal, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
Central Park, designed in 1858 by landscape architects
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, occupies not only the middle of
Manhattan but also a special place in the hearts of New Yorkers and in the
American imagination. Visited by more people than any other urban park in the
United States, it has been featured in hundreds of movies. Perhaps even more
important, Olmsted and Vaux’s “Greensward Plan” inspired cities across the
country to set aside large open spaces as public parks. A striking feature of
their design was the wide variety of buildings and architectural elements they
included to complement the natural setting.
The miniature Central Park wonderland at the Holiday Train
Show is made of natural materials including birch bark, lotus ponds, twigs,
stems, fruit, seeds, fungus, pine cones, acorns and cinnamon sticks with mind-boggling
creations of buildings, bridges, landscapes and train tracks, artistically
crafted by founding visionary Paul Busse’s team at Applied Imagination. Model
trains zip through an enchanting display of more than 175 New York landmarks.
|
Queens County Farm, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
|
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
New replicas of Central Park’s iconic architectural features
include Belvedere Castle, the Dairy, the Old Bandstand, the Angel of the Waters
sculpture atop the Bethesda Fountain, and two graceful pedestrian bridges. You’ll
also see famous New York buildings that are either adjacent to the park or just
inside it including the Plaza Hotel, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, part of
the American Museum of Natural History.
In addition to the Central Park area, emphasis this year is
on representing buildings that haven’t been highlighted in previous displays or
in other ways in the city. Painstakingly recreated from old photos and records,
many buildings long gone from the city’s landscape are presented. It warrants
considerable time to ruminate on New York past and the architectural wonders
that have been replaced by today’s skyscrapers and you’ll
have a chance to view them virtually side-by-side with the city’s newest icons
like The Oculus, looking almost like a mini-bug with its winged architecture. Plan
on spending at least two hours to thoroughly enjoy the displays of each
borough, the iconic city buildings, and watch the trains meandering throughout
the exhibit.
|
Mansions of the Past, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
|
Downtown Manhattan, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
Train lovers will enjoy more than 25 G-scale model trains
and trolleys that hum along nearly a half-mile of track past re-creations of
iconic sites from all five boroughs of New York City, the Hudson River Valley, and
other locations in New York State. American steam engines, streetcars from the
late 1800s, and modern freight and passenger trains travel underneath overhead
trestles, through tunnels, across rustic bridges, and past waterfalls that
cascade into flowing creeks. Thomas the Tank Engine™ and other beloved trains
disguised as large colorful insects add additional fun to the displays.
|
Macy's, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
|
A Train Lover's Paradise, credit: Meryl Pearlstein |
The New York Botanical Garden is a museum of plants located in
the Bronx. The Holiday Train Show is very busy, so buy your timed tickets in
advance at
www.nybg.org .
The New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern
Boulevard, Bronx, New York.
Comments
Post a Comment