Straw Hats at the NYBG Holiday Train Show

The Straw Hat Society had its first outing of 2007 to see the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden. This exhibit has been an annual tradition since 1992. It consists of buildings constructed of natural materials with model trains running throughout several parts of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

The creator, Paul Busse, works from photographs of the buildings, using sand, glue and tile grout for the stone facades and berries, seeds, pods and vines to add texture and detail.

It takes almost 20 people 10 days to position the buildings, lay out the 1,200 feet of track, get the trains running, construct the trestles, tuck in the hundreds of plants and place the lights.

Many of the buildings are well-known landmarks.

The "glass" in the conservatory and the windows of other buildings is poured from casting resin.

City Hall

Close-up of statuary on the roof of City Hall

Gracie Mansion, the Mayor's house

The Chrysler building and the Empire State Building

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Close-up of a steeple of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center with Radio City Music Hall in the lower right corner.

Statue of Liberty

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Guggenheim Museum

Grand Central Terminal

New York Public Library. See the famous lions on the steps?
High Bridge. All of the "stonework" is actually pieces of bark.

Poe Cottage

Apollo Theater

Folies Bergere Theater

Yankee Stadium

Here are some landmarks in Central Park:
Angel of the Waters. Sits atop the Bethesda Fountain.

The Dairy

Gothic Art Bridge

Music Pavillion

I will be posting more photos from the exhibit on my Flickr account including close-ups of the incredible variety of plant material used. I was also fascinated by the construction of the trestles.

Our outing did not end here. We continued on to the children's Adventure Garden to see the Gingerbread Adventures show which included some spectacular gingerbread houses constructed by professional bakers. Look for that part of our tour in an upcoming post.