Free Holiday Train Show returns to Grand Central on Nov. 13: hours, what's new and how to visit

One of the city's longest-running free holiday traditions is back. The New York Transit Museum's Holiday Train Show opens Friday, Nov. 13, at the museum's Grand Central Gallery & Store for its 22nd season, and runs through Feb. 21, 2027, according to the museum.

The basics

• Where: New York Transit Museum Gallery & Store, Grand Central Terminal, just off the Main Concourse in the Shuttle Passage, next to the Station Master's Office.
• When: Nov. 13, 2026, to Feb. 21, 2027.
• Hours: 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, per amNY.
• Cost: Free. No ticket needed.

What you'll see

Lionel trains, including Metro-North and New York Central models, vintage subway sets and a Polar Express locomotive, run along a 34-foot, two-level "O" gauge layout that starts at a miniature Grand Central and ends at a snowy North Pole. The museum says more than 225,000 people visit each season.

The layout gets new pieces every year. This season adds a section of miniature buildings by Danny Cortes, a Bushwick-raised artist whose work draws on 1990s Brooklyn, including a Crazy Eddie electronics store and La Borinqueña, a Williamsburg grocery that closed in 2013, amNY reported. The museum says a miniature Economy Candy storefront is also joining the show. Earlier additions include tiny versions of CBGB and the Ramones.

Acting director Regina Shepherd told amNY that the show, which began in 2004 as a collaboration with Lionel, is the only holiday train show left in the city that does not charge admission.

Tips for visiting

• No strollers: They are not allowed in the gallery, and unattended strollers are not allowed anywhere in Grand Central, the museum's visitor page says.
• Accessibility: The Main Concourse is wheelchair accessible from the Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street entrances, not from Vanderbilt Avenue.

Making a day of it? The museum's vintage Holiday Nostalgia Train runs on Sundays from Nov. 29, and our holiday markets guide lists the Grand Central Holiday Fair and other markets nearby.