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Duke Energy Holiday Trains return to Cincinnati Museum Center

CINCINNATI – One of Cincinnati’s most loved holiday traditions is back at Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC). The Duke Energy Holiday Trains return in Holiday Junction Featuring the Duke Energy Holiday Trains, marking their 72nd holiday season on November 17.

The Duke Energy Holiday Trains have been a Cincinnati holiday staple since 1946, delighting generations as more than 300 rail cars and 60 locomotives chug through a mini metropolis on 1,000 feet of track. Track-level views reveal the intricate details of the display, from anxious passengers waiting to board, to cars up to their hubcaps in snow, to a visitor from the North Pole circling the chimney tops. This year, CMC is also presenting the historic layout like never before. Guests will get a bird’s-eye view of the trains as they enter the gallery via an elevated walkway. The elevated vantage point also brings guests eye-to-eye with a whimsical take on the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky skylines, connected, appropriately, by the Roebling Bridge.

The Duke Energy Holiday Trains are surrounded by other incredible train layouts, some dating back as far as 1904. The Carlisle & Finch Company, based in Cincinnati, produced the world’s first toy electric train in 1896. The 1904 in Holiday Junction showcases meticulous craftsmanship and detail in its metal trains, cars, buildings and bridge. Nearby is a pre-World War II Lionel layout and a Lionel Super O layout from the 1960s, complete with ready-made structures specially designed to complement the O-scale trains.

Holiday Junction also includes an interactive winter wonderland where you can build a snowman, create footprints in the snow and climb aboard a riding train and chug alongside and underneath a snowy garden railway layout. Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends are back as well, steaming along mountainside tracks.

CMC’s holiday experience also includes a remarkable display of custom-built LEGO creations in the nearby William L. Mallory, Sr. Gallery. The blizzard of LEGO bricks features fantastical scenes of some of your favorite Disney and comic book characters, populating a world carefully curated to enchant and amuse guests. Keep an eye out for Union Terminal, Music Hall and the Roebling Bridge recreated in impressive detail with LEGO bricks.

All of this winterland whimsy is tied together by Cincinnati-based Reverb Art + Design who created a stylized Greater Cincinnati skyline above the Duke Energy Holiday Trains. The feature includes iconic buildings of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky including Union Terminal, Music Hall, Paul Brown Stadium and more, connected by the Roebling Bridge. Each of the more than 100 pieces is custom-cut.

And no holiday is complete without a visit to see Santa. Cincinnati’s favorite Santa makes his grand arrival on Friday, November 23. Though his reindeer are resting up for the big day, Santa will make an airborne arrival at Union Terminal.

Holiday Junction Featuring the Duke Energy Holiday Trains is open November 17 through January 27, 2019. Visit cincymuseum.org/holiday-junction for more details.