NYBG’s Holiday Train Show is a tribute to NYC’s architectural heritage
A model train passing by the NYC skyline. Courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden
A quintessential New York City holiday tradition is back for its 33rd year. The New York Botanical Garden’s beloved Holiday Train Show enchants guests with G-scale miniature trains that zip through nearly 200 plant-based models of iconic city landmarks, displayed inside the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and outdoors. For the first time, guests can experience the show in a new light with Holiday Train Nights, where the trains and displays twinkle under the night sky. The show runs from November 16 through January 20, 2025.
This year’s show coincides with the 60th anniversary of NYC’s Landmarks Law, which preserves the city’s architectural legacy. Many of the city’s most iconic landmarks, like Grand Central Terminal and the Hearst Tower—the newest landmark featured in the show—still stand thanks to this vital legislation.
Iconic structures no longer standing, such as the original Yankee Stadium and Penn Station, have been re-created using natural materials like leaves, seeds, twigs, bark, acorns, and cinnamon sticks by the creative team at Applied Imagination in Alexandria, Kentucky.
Miniature models of American steam engines, late 1800s streetcars, and modern freight and passenger trains weave through landmarks, tunnels, and structures like the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as a whimsical outdoor woodland display featuring mountains, forest animals, winter plants, and fungi on the Conservatory Lawn.
NYBG is welcoming guests to Holiday Train Nights, a unique nighttime experience offering a new way to enjoy the show. Under the towering ceilings of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, visitors can marvel at several warmly lit scenes, from a cactus-filled desert to lush rainforests.
The experience is complemented by classic holiday tunes performed in the Locomotive Lounge of the Visitor Center, along with sweet and savory treats, spiked cider cocktails, mocktails, and gingerbread available for purchase.
Holiday Train Nights are hosted on 16 select evenings—10 of which are adult-only from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and six for guests of all ages from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets for adults cost $49.
Tickets for the Holiday Train Show start at $39 for adults and $27 for children; purchase them here.
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