The Columbus Metropolitan Library is, for the fifth straight year, displaying the Huntington Holiday Train in the Main Library atrium.
The Huntington Holiday Train is on display through Friday, Jan. 3, 2014.
The impressive display spans 600 square feet and includes four trains running on more than 280 feet of track surrounded by more than 50 pounds of snowflakes. The miniature buildings – which are all made from leaves, bark, seeds, pine cones, fungus and moss – are modeled off of actual structures in Germany.
This marks the 22nd year of the holiday attraction, which was built in 1992 by Applied Imagination founder Paul Busse. The train was originally displayed in the lobby of the historic Huntington bank building at Broad and High streets; however in 2009 Huntington graciously loaned the train to CML.
Highlights of the train display include a 6-foot tall cathedral, an 8-foot tall castle and a waterfall that pumps 600 gallons an hour. Each building in the display took between one and three weeks to create. The castle and waterfall took more than three months to complete; it took more than 10 months to build the cathedral.
The Huntington Holiday Train is free and open to all during regular library hours – Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from 1-5 p.m.
Photos by Michael Alwood