Above: RBC Model Train Exhibit – Last Christmas (2013)

A Christmas tradition in many places is to build a temporary model railroad layout to thrill kids of all ages during the Christmas season.  In 2012, The Royal Botanical Gardens (in Burlington, Ontario, Canada) commissioned just such a model railroad from  a U.S. firm called Applied Imagination.  They say on their website that they are a “nationally recognized, award winning crew of creative artists, botanical architects and landscape designers producing original public garden exhibits, seasonal displays and garden railways”.  This train installation was built using exclusively botanic materials and features landscapes that celebrate Canadian landmarks.  The development of this layout took over 7 tons of cedar slabs, 3,000 pounds of rock, 250 feet of track and 2,500 hours of effort to piece it all together.

Click here to see pictures of them building the railway layout in 2012 for the Royal Botanical Gardens, their first such exhibit outside the U.S.A.

The exhibit is brought out each year at Christmas. Visiting it is free with paid admission to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Click here for admission and rates information.

We visited the fascinating model railway on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.  It is closed New Years Day but will remain on exhibit from Friday, January 2nd to Sunday, January 4th.  Several of the photos we took are shown below.

Posting and photos by Russ Milland

Click on each image for a closer look!