Urban Gardens

Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Amid the glimmer and twinkle of tiny lights, G-scale model trains chug along a half-mile of track circling 140 miniature landmark buildings constructed entirely of natural materials including, bark, twigs, seeds, fruits, nuts, vines, mosses, and leaves.

Sense of scale: Tracks and foliage up close. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Housed in the spectacular domed steel and glass Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, an architectural icon itself, The New York Botanical Garden’s annual Holiday Train Show is a seasonal tradition for families from New York and beyond.

Conservatory’s glass dome above George Washington Bridge replica. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Twig replicas of the city’s bridges, including the George Washington and the famed Brooklyn Bridge, are represented along with the Art Deco skyscrapers that define the city’s skyline, the Empire State and The Chrysler Buildings.

Washington Square Park Arch. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Favorites include the Statue of Liberty,  the original Yankee Stadium, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Penn Station, and some of the city’s most elegant Hudson River mansions.

The lady herself. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Galveston Flood Buidling. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

The landmark replicas are created by award-winning designer Paul Busse, who each year adds something new to historic collection. This year, the classic Eero Saarinen-designed TWA terminal at JFK airport finds a place among other storied classics.

TWA Terminal. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Although most are from New York City, some are famed landmark estates from the Hudson Valley including the Rockefeller Kykuit estate and the Gothic Revival Lyndhurst estate.

Lyndhurst Mansion. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Rockefeller’s Hudson Valley Kykuit Estate. Photo by Robin Plaskoff Horton

Busse installed his first model railroad at the Ohio State Fair in 1982. His interest in garden railroads stems from his training in botanical architecture and his personal love of trains. Busse and his team design and build the elements of each garden railway at his studio, Applied Imagination, in Alexandria, Kentucky.

Paul Busse, the show’s designer. Photo from Applied Imagination.