We visited the holiday train show, which is something we’ve been invited to by family friends for years. Finally, the timing worked out. The trains were … fine, I guess. Sure, there’s 25 trains and trolleys rolling along over a half-mile of track, but what they are weaving around — almost 200 scaled down buildings made of bark, leaves, and other materials — is the real attraction. I took a lot of photos of the miniaturized parts of the city. Here are some of them.

The Elephantine Colossus was a Coney Island tourist attraction. The seven-story structure opened in 1885, and burned down in 1896. In between, it was a concert hall and amusement bazaar.

Its legs were 18 feet in diameter. The entrance was in a back leg. The front legs held a cigar store. Apparently, for a time, it was the first artificial structure that immigrants saw when they arrived to the United States.

This is a representation of the Coney Island Light, still on the west end of Coney Island. This one has been in place and helping sailors since 1920. While the real one is still, this one is made of sticks and bamboo and resin. For more than 40 years the lighthouse was manned by Frank Schubert, the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the United States. He spent his whole life working for the Coast Guard, including his last 14 years, after the lighthouse was automated (as all of them are these days). Schubert was America’s last civilian light keeper. He died at 88, in 2003, and is credited with saving 15 lives.

Earlier this year I read Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse and I commend that book to you if you are mildly interested in lighthouses.

The Wonder Wheel is a 150-foot-tall attraction on Coney Island — not all of these are on Coney. It was built in 1920 named an official New York City landmark in 1989. And the ride is still an active fixture.

I’ve never had a desire to visit Coney Island. (For sure, I’m probably missing out.) But now I want to go. I want to ride a century-old ferris wheel.

Presumably this was the first sign, or one of the early ones. Not having something like this is a crying shame.

Here’s the small version of Grand Central Station. The real one covers 48 acres, has 44 platforms, all below ground, serving 67 tracks.

I wonder what’s below this one.

When Grand Central Depot opened in 1871, 42nd Street was remote, undeveloped and north of much of the city, but not for long. Within two decades this was in the middle of everything. In a dozen more years, this terminal was seeing passengers. For some reason, 21.6 million people visited it in 2018. Wikipedia says that excludes actual passengers.

Hey! Look! Another lighthouse!

This is one of the largest buildings in the show. This version of the historic, and much-lamented, Penn Station, occupies 20 square feet.

The actual building, built in 1910 filled up two city blocks, or about 80 acres. Train travel declined after World War 2 and the station was demolished in 1964. It took decades for people to really decide that might have been a mistake. So when someone says the 60s were great, here’s one more data point to the contrary. What remains of the old Penn Station is now beneath Madison Square Garden.

Since this is a train show … here’s one pulling into Penn Station now.

And here’s another, departing. Just have a look at those columns on the building’s exterior. Remember, these models are built out of natural materials. Someone made dowels and sanded those.

This is Kykuit, home to four generations of the Rockefeller family, starting with John Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil.

This is in Mount Pleasant, New York, on the Hudson Valley. You can tour the actual estate, which is a six-story house and, judging by the photos online, is much more attraction than this particular model, impressive though it is.

Kykuit is a historic site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The model makers thought enough of it to display an unfinished version, a small version of a huge mansion in progress. And now some details: the facade is pine bark, the balconies are built from a black cherry stump’s fungus, and the railings are eucaluptus stems. The front door is made from lotus pod, pin oak acorn caps, sticks and hemp rope. Those are magnolia leaves making up the roof. The sculptures and cherubs are made from, among other things, pistachio shells, juniper berries, sea grass, cocoa nuts and mahogany. The eagle on top? A white pine cone on a bur oak acorn cap.

And now you’re beginning to understand the attention-to-detail involved in these models, but we’re only beginning to see all of the displays. I have 30 more photos to go!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 26th, 2022 at 10:06 pm and is filed under adventures, history, Monday, photo. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.