Jingle Rails: The Great Western Adventure

Exhibition Website

Nov 17 2018 - Jan 21 2019

Visitors can expect to see nine working model trains wind past the local treasures of downtown Indianapolis, including the Eiteljorg Museum, Monument Circle, Union Station, the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Lucas Oil Stadium, where you will hear veteran Colts radio announcer Bob Lamey call a game. The trains then head through the national parks of the American West, passing legendary sites, including grand railway lodges, Northwest Coast Native villages, and wonders both natural and human-made—Mt. Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Yosemite Falls, Old Faithful, the Las Vegas Strip, Hoover Dam and much more. 

Every canyon and mesa, every lodge and geyser is created by Paul Busse and his brilliant team at Applied Imagination. Busse’s inventive holiday creations are rare and only seen in cities like New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C.—and Indianapolis. 

Highlights:  Eight ultra-sized G-scale/gauge model trains, nearly 1,200 feet of track, more than 30 features including Indianapolis’ Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Lucas Oil Stadium, One America Tower, Mt. Rushmore, The Grand Canyon, Old Faithful geyser (It actually erupts!), The Indiana State Fairgrounds' Normandy Barn, Golden Gate Bridge, Las Vegas Strip, Hoover Dam

For this season, the eighth year of Jingle Rails, a new destination on the model train itinerary is a replica Hollywood, including famous film industry locations. The mountaintop Hollywood sign, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre with handprints and footprints of the stars, the Paramount Studios gates, the Warner Bros. water tower, a Western-movie studio set and the Griffith Park Observatory are depicted in miniature.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Western
  • Paul Busse
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates