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Available photo:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 31, 2007

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact: Susan Crane, Director of Marketing
215-247-5777 x121 or cranesj@pobox.upenn.edu

Plan a December Visit to the Morris Arboretum’s Holiday Garden Railway

PHILADELPHIA – The Morris Arboretum’s popular Garden Railway Display is returning again this winter as the 7 th Annual Holiday Garden Railway Display. Visitors of all ages will be wow-ed by a quarter mile of track featuring seven loops and tunnels with fifteen different rail lines and two cable cars, nine bridges (including a trestle bridge you can walk under), and bustling G-scale model trains, all set in the lovely winter garden of the Morris Arboretum. The display and buildings are all made of natural materials – bark, leaves, twigs, hollow logs, mosses, acorns, dried flowers, seeds and stones – to form a perfectly proportioned miniature landscape complete with miniature rivers. Each building, while an exact replica of the original, is unique in its design. Philadelphia-area landmarks such as a masterpiece replica of Independence Hall are made using pinecone seeds for shingles, acorns as finials and twigs as downspouts.

The buildings are all meticulously decorated for the holidays with lights that twinkle along the tracks and around the surrounding landscape. The Garden Railway Display has become one of the Arboretum’s most beloved attractions since it opened in 1998, and the Holiday Garden Railway is quickly becoming a favorite holiday tradition for many families. The Holiday Garden Railway opens the day after Thanksgiving and extends the magic through December 31 st.

The Holiday Garden Railway Display opening date is November 23. The trains will run daily from 10am-4pm through December 31, (closed Christmas Eve and day). The display is free with regular garden admission: $10 adults, $8 for seniors, students and youth (13-18) $5, children under age three and members free.

The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania is located at 100 Northwestern Avenue in Chestnut Hill. The 92-acre horticulture display garden features a spectacular collection of mature trees in a Victorian landscape. The Arboretum features numerous picturesque spots such as the formal rose garden, Japanese gardens, swan pond, meadows, and the elegant Fernery. The Morris Arboretum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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