Garden Railway

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Opening Friday, May 22, the Morris Arboretum & Gardens’ beloved Garden Railway returns with a new theme, Garden Railway: Revolutionary Philly, placing this signature attraction at the center of the Morris’s America 250 storytelling. Set within lush garden plantings, the immersive miniature landscape celebrates Philadelphia’s pivotal role in the nation’s founding and brings Revolutionary history vividly to life.

Visitors of all ages can take a miniature tour of eighteenth-century Philadelphia along more than a third of a mile of track, featuring seven loops and tunnels, fifteen rail lines, two cable cars, and nine bridges, including a trestle bridge that guests can walk beneath. Bustling model trains move through scenes inspired by colonial Philadelphia, highlighting landmarks and historic moments such as the Battle of Germantown.

Every structure in the Garden Railway is handcrafted from natural materials such as bark, leaves, twigs, hollow logs, mosses, acorns, dried flowers, seeds, and stones. Each building faithfully replicates its historic counterpart, interpreted through organic materials to create a richly detailed miniature world. Philadelphia-area landmarks, including a striking replica of Independence Hall, complete the scene and underscore the connection between history and nature.

Complementing the Garden Railway, Plants from the Colonial Era explores the living landscape of eighteenth-century Philadelphia. This self-guided exhibition highlights plants that would have been familiar to area residents during the colonial era.

These plants supported daily life in countless ways, providing food, medicine, building materials, and sources of beauty and comfort. From plants found in home gardens to those in Penn’s woods, many of which were long stewarded by local Indigenous communities, the exhibition reveals how nature shaped civic life, independence, and resilience in early Philadelphia.

About the Garden Railway

Visitors of all ages will be wowed by a third of a 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 model trains, all set in the lovely garden of the Morris Arboretum & Gardens. 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 pine cone seeds for shingles, acorns as finials and twigs as downspouts.

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The Garden Railway is supported, in part, through the generosity of Gwen and Ed Asplundh and by a gift given in memory of Joe Shuttleworth.

“Gwen and I are very pleased to support the wonderful Garden Railway. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved trains large and small. For years, I had a large train layout in my basement. There is something very special about an outdoor railway, especially the very unusual and beautifully done railway at the Morris. I enjoy watching the trains myself, but most of all, I enjoy watching the looks of delight on the faces of the other ‘kids’ young and old.” 

–Ed Asplundh