Public Employee Press

Trainloads of fun

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Under the gigantic palm fronds and 20-foot tall banana trees of The New York Botanical Garden’s conservatory lies a twinkling cityscape filled with handcrafted replicas of New York landmarks in miniature crafted by architect Paul Busse from pinecones, twigs, dried fruit and flowers, resin and hot glue.

Like Santa and his helpers, Busse and his team bring trainloads of joy to New Yorkers at the annual display. The Holiday Train Show at the Haupt Conservatory blends the exotic horticulture of Australia and South Asia with toy trains and Busse’s architectural imaginings of Christmas in New York. Each year he adds several new landmark replicas to the growing collection.

Members of DC 37’s Quasi-Public Employees Local 374 — the Attendant Guards, Gardeners, Custodial Assistants, Maintainers and their supervisors and others — install the seasonal exhibit. In a Bronx conservatory already blossoming with exotic flora and hanging vines, the workers plant flowers and greenery, polish trains, swab moisture from 1,200 feet of train track and protect the exhibit. This year’s display was on view from Nov. 23 through Jan 11 at the largest botanical garden in the United States.

Toddlers become giants as a dozen toy trains, trolleys and butterfly cabooses dart past the twig replicas of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Brooklyn’s Pierrepoint Street townhouses, Manhattan mansions and the famous department stores of Fifth Avenue. The Lilliputian locomotives loop around wishing wells and visitors whisper their hopes for the New Year. Horns toot and bells clang as the trains crisscross the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Verrazano and Hell’s Gate bridges and breeze by Yankee Stadium to the delight and amazement of awestruck children and adults.

There’s not a dead leaf to be found among the hundreds of hothouse plants and trees scrupulously maintained and hand-watered daily by the hardworking members of Local 374.

“Our members do an outstanding job arranging and maintaining this display,” said Local 374 President Cuthbert ­Dickenson. “During the 2008-09 holiday season, this cultural exhibit drew about 175,000 visitors to The New York Botanical Garden. Although the train show is one of many public cultural attractions that generate millions of dollars each year for our city, it may be in jeopardy because of proposed state budget cuts.”