Annual Holiday Train Show at New York Botanical Garden is bigger and better than ever

BRONX PARK (WABC) -- The holiday train show at New York Botanical Garden in Bronx Park is a seasonal tradition more than two decades in the making--featuring New York's favorite landmarks scaled down and reimagined with flowers and plants of all kinds.

Bringing about a sense of anticipation, pure wonderment and disbelief, the 23rd Annual Holiday Train Show, once again, is stopping folks in their tracks.

"(The kids will) literally lay on the floor and watch the trains for hours," says one visitor.

From mansions to museums and statues to stadiums, this exhibit here at the New York Botanical Garden is bigger and better than years past. There are two new editions--Grand Central Terminal and the Enid a Haupt conservatory.

Karen Daubman tells me the show features 21 trains running a quarter-mile worth of track, which is carefully snaked around 150 iconic New York landscapes.

Each miniature replica is made from plant parts of anything you can imagine--seeds, pods, acorns, leave, pieces of cinnamon sticks and even pistachio shells.

The trains speak for themselves. They're whimsical pieces that the staff makes sure stays put.

"They do derail especially when they're grabbed or poked at or something just on their own," says Daubman.

Remarkably, it takes a team of only 20 people a week to set the show up, including the section that seems to float in water.

In the evening, the space magically transforms. Thousands of twinkling lights turn on, and the buildings have a mesmerizing amber glow.

And for adults only, there are bar car nights that feature cocktails, fire twirling and ice carving.

Don't wait!--The show only runs through January 19th.