Twelfth annual Grand Central Terminal Holiday Train Show continues through February 23 (photo by twi-ny.mdr)
GRAND CENTRAL HOLIDAY TRAIN SHOW
New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex
Shuttle Passage next to the Station Masters’ Office
Open daily through February 23, free, 8:00/10:00 am – 6:00/7:00/8:00 pm
www.mta.info
Grand Central Terminal concludes its centennial celebration with its twelfth annual Holiday Train Show, cruising around the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex through February 23. A collaboration between Lionel and TW Design, the layout once again combines old favorites with some new touches. As you walk inside the gallery, you are met by a model of Grand Central itself, in front of the MetLife building. You’ll also find such city monuments as the Empire State Building (complete with King Kong) and Philip Johnson’s AT&T/Sony building, along with such smaller stops as a sporting goods store, a pho restaurant, a barber shop, Irene’s diner, a toy store, an old Esso station, a pharmacy, and Willard’s Hobbies, which features its own mini-train set. There are also vintage New York Central Railroad model trains (the Commodore Vanderbilt and the Empire State Express), a model of the Metro-North M7 commuter train, and a colorful mural from Maira Kalman’s 1999 book, Next Stop Grand Central. And as an added bonus, there is a time-lapse video outside the gallery showing the construction of this year’s setup.