UPPER WEST SIDE — Antique toy trains, tracks, stations and even a carousel have taken over the lobby of the New-York Historical Society for an exhibit running through next year.
The museum has worked to create a sense of interactivity, through multimedia elements and features like crawlspace for kids, amid the miniature locomotives, model towns and figurines set up in the space.
Visitors can crawl through a tunnel and pop up in the center of a scene to get a closer look at the little conductors, trains and towns. They'll also hear the whooshing of trains as they watch them go by that's piped in through video projections.
In the past, a smaller fraction of the collection was shown without the trains actually running. But this year, visitors can see 11 trains in action, racing along overhead tracks and through valleys and hills.
The trains and scenery are part of the Jerni Collection that the museum acquired last year and were made during the "Golden Age of Toy Trains" from 1850 to 1940.
This time period showed the growing importance of trains to America's economy, as the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 and train lines were built to connect the Midwest with East Coast factories, explained New-York Historical Society president and CEO Louise Mirrer.
“This exhibition will engage visitors in the thrill and joy of trains while conveying the important history of American industry — for example, how train tracks replaced waterways as the most popular mode of transport for people and goods,” she said.
While the whizzing trains may mesmerize children, adults may be drawn in by the handcrafted nature of the trains and scenes, which are in nearly perfect condition, thanks to the care of their original owners Jerry and Nina Greene.
"The detail is incredible," Jerry Greene said in 2012, when the trains were first displayed at the museum, as they were on loan before the official acquisition took place.
The New-York Historical Society, with the help of donors, acquired the entire 11,000-piece collection, which was valued at $80 million, for an undisclosed amount.
About 300 pieces of the full collection — trains, tunnels, refreshment carts, conductors, stations and more — are on display in the lobby and in the lower-level children's museum.
The exhibit, at 170 Central Park West at West 77th Street, runs through Feb. 28, 2016.
