Holiday Train Show A Big Hit

The holiday train show that opened recently at the Transit Museum Gallery and Store in Grand Central Terminal is already a hit with big and little kids alike.

The Roberge family, visiting from Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, initially said that they came to New York for Thanksgiving dinner. But they confessed that they really came for the trains. They heard about the holiday train show opening from Elizabeth Roberge’s mother who lives in Tarrytown. ”My mom called us in Michigan just to tell us about the holiday train show. That’s why we were one of the first to arrive.”

“New Yorkers take their trains for granted. What if you lived in Grosspointe? There are no rail or subways,” said Elizabeth.

Her two kids, 2-year-old Sarah and 3-year-old Luke, were enthralled as she took turns with husband Chris lifting the children to get close-up views of the models. “If you have kids who love trains this city is heaven,” she said.

Exhibit highlights include extensive model train sets that span 100 years of transit history, commemorating the Subway Centennial. There are vintage IRT all-steel 1904 ‘Gibbs’ cars, 1915 BRT “Standard,” IND R-1s and R-4s of the early 1930s, and contemporary R-142 and R-143 high-tech subways on a multi-level layout that feature Grand Central Terminal and the Chrysler Building at the center. Visitors can also enjoy the mini-Long Island Rail Road as it winds into stations, its tiny passengers sitting in lighted cars. On the walls are reproductions of vintage postcards from the New York Transit Museum collection.

Kristen Dimento, a nanny who takes care of 17-month-old Chloe from the East 50’s neighborhood said: “I was so surprised by this show. I was looking for something indoors to do with the baby and stumbled on all the excitement of the crowd here. The replicas of the town, city, and train stations are simply terrific.”

John Leung saw the train show ad on the subway but had forgotten when it was opening. “It was a coincidence that we’re here,” he said. “We were coming to the Transit Museum gallery anyway just to do some shopping. My 3-year-old son Jake, loves trains. We’ve been here over an hour already and he’s totally engaged.”

But the train show opening attracted more adults than children. Brooklyn residents John and LuAnne Tricarico, a fifty-something couple, said they that they represented the “big kids” who like trains. When asked if he owned a train set as big as the one on exhibit, John answered:

“Are you kidding. My train set at home is about twice the size of this display. I’ve been collecting HO-scale trains for 45 years, but that doesn’t stop me from coming out to see more trains. I’m a true ‘train nut’ — big time.”

John said a typical outing for him was taking his wife on a trip by train.

“With the Subway Centennial going on he went nuts, and I’m becoming a nut too,” said LuAnne. When the couple is not riding trains they are checking out train websites, posting their photos, and connecting to their chat room friends. There’s a whole world of train people out there!

“We ride the nostalgia trains every time now that the Subway Centennial offers them,” John said. “I’ve photographed the vintage trains at least a hundred times already—day, night, in the rain. Like these little trains here, when I hear that train whistle, I go running to see it.”

The New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex in Grand Central Terminal is open Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday – Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is located just off the Main Concourse in the Shuttle Passage, adjacent to the Station Master’s Office. For more information visit the MTA website at www.mta.info.