The holiday season in New York City is a magical time. Unfortunately, it’s also an expensive one. But every once in a while, you’ll stumble upon a scene that fills you with holiday cheer, while also going easy on your wallet. This past week, FlatironHot! experienced a bit of free holiday cheer ourselves as we stepped into the 11^th annual Holiday Train Show at the Transit Museum in Grand Central Terminal in honor of the terminal’s 100^th birthday.

It was a beautiful scene at the museum; parents stood watching as their children moved excitedly throughout the exhibit. Each child had a look of awe and excitement on his or her face as the toy trains blew past them. They would gather at the stations with their faces pressed against the glass to get a closer look at the stunning detail of the train designs.

The display also captured the imagination of some of the fathers at the exhibit. Conversations hatched as they proudly reminisced about their first holiday train sets and marveled at the detail and design of the city structure the trains were moving through.

In a brand new layout built by artist Lionel, model Metro-North and New York Central trains depart from a miniature Grand Central on their way north on a 34’-long, two-level “O” gauge layout. The trains traversed varying landscapes within the display, some moving through a picturesque mountainside, passing through tunnels before rolling into a rural outpost. Other trains huffed through the underground of a beautiful replica of choice selections of the city, including Grand Central Terminal.

The exhibit is completely free and a wonderful event to check out for the holidays–especially if you have children. If you’d like to start a collection of holiday trains for yourself, add a new set to an already existing one, or even pick one up as a last-minute gift, you can purchase a fully working replica of any holiday train set that catches your attention. The exhibit will be open to the public until February 12, 2013.

For more on a wide variety of other topics, follow@FlatIronHot on Twitter and like us on Facebook.