2025 Greenhouse Train Show
Sweetland-Patricelli Greenhouse Complex
Elizabeth Park
West Hartford
Dec. 5, 2025
One of the most important elements of a tradition is that, well, it’s a tradition. It’s an event or practice that usually predates us. The history of its origins is passed on fourth or fifth-hand by the time we learn about it.
That’s what made my visit to Elizabeth Park noteworthy, to see the establishment of a new holiday tradition firsthand. I went to see the Greenhouse Train Show in the Sweetland-Patricelli Greenhouse Complex, now in its second year.
Stephanie Webb, manager for the Garmany Visitor Center and Gift Shop, said that the train show was a response to visitor demands. She said that visitors often want to enter the greenhouse, which was recently refurbished from top to bottom. Last year, the show utilized only half of the greenhouse; this year it expanded to include two new trolley lines that encompass the entire greenhouse. It took Janet Cemanes, one the park’s rose gardeners, and a team of volunteers about a week to put the display together.
The result is a wonderfully ornate winter wonderland, with two tracks for trolleys and a large track for the main train. The buildings used to populate the tracks were constructed and donated by volunteers, everything from general stores to train stations and the little people populating the area. In the background, a forest of poinsettias sets the Christmastime mood.
The two trolleys bracket the entrance of the greenhouse. Both trolleys run on a simple straight line route, going between train stations in a back-and-forth loop. The trolleys themselves are intricately designed, and replicate the look and style of the real trolleys they’re based on perfectly.
In the back of the greenhouse is the train, which includes tunnels, small hills and signs in a massive loop that takes a couple of minutes for the train to complete. While electric, the train is built to resemble the old style coal trains with a large smokestack in the front, hauling precious goods behind it.
The train show is not only for entertainment, but also a history lesson about the importance of rail service in the state. There are several signs posted around the greenhouse, detailing the history of trolleys in Hartford, Springfield, and even Brooklyn.
It may be obvious already, but I love trains. I enjoy the sound they make, the accommodations they provide, the relaxation they afford on long trips, and the opportunity to see more of the countryside than what a typical highway ride provides. And I love model trains for miniaturizing that experience.
Others clearly enjoy it too, as Stephanie said that she’s been expanding the offerings of both the train show itself, and the nearby gift shop. She started carrying toy trains in the gift shop this year, another response to the growing community interest in the train show. She said that it’s been a learning experience, and that the growth of the train show is something that she’s very proud of.
Only two years in, and the Train Show at Elizabeth Park is already a rousing success. This is one of the traditions that I was able to get in on the ground floor on, and I look forward to telling people many years from now that I was there at the beginning.
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The 2025 Greenhouse Train Show runs through Dec. 18.
Now Jamil is going to check out the trees at the Wadsworth.
