NYC landmarks, including miniature Brooklyn Bridge, highlight Holiday Train Show at NYBG Brooklyn Paper

"Kenia Pittman, director of exhibition design operations at the New York Botanical Garden, towers over the Brooklyn Bridge as she talks. But this is more of a baby Brooklyn Bridge than the real thing. While few structures are as symbolic of Brooklyn as this signature bridge, Pittman describes the architecture of the Garden's massive miniature, built for its holiday train exhibit, along with a series of other landmarks from Brooklyn and beyond, constructed to scale."

"The Brooklyn Bridge is the largest bridge in the Holiday Train Show, Pittman said on a guided tour. It became part of our collection in 2004. The real Brooklyn Bridge, a cable-stayed suspension bridge, spans the East River from Brooklyn to Manhattan with a main span of nearly 1,600 feet and a deck nearly 130 feet above the water. It opened May 24, 1884,"

"The Holiday Train Show debuted 34 years ago and now features more than 30 G-scale model locomotives and trolleys, along with nearly 200 plant-based replicas of famous local architecture. Nearly a century later, the baby Brooklyn Bridge was born from very different materials. Its massive piers are made from oak, elm, ash, and locust bark designed to resemble stone, Pittman said. The cables are all willow twigs, and the keystones of the Gothic arches are sugar pinecone scales."

The Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden features more than 30 G-scale model locomotives and trolleys and nearly 200 plant-based replicas of famous architecture. The show includes a large miniature Brooklyn Bridge that joined the collection in 2004 and is the largest bridge in the exhibition. The miniature uses oak, elm, ash, and locust bark for piers, willow twig cables, and sugar pinecone-scale keystones. The real Brooklyn Bridge opened May 24, 1884, spans the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan with a main span of nearly 1,600 feet, and the exhibition runs through Jan. 11.

Read at www.brooklynpaper.com