It’s Full Steam Ahead With Jingle Rails – Indianapolis Monthly

Jingle all the way. It’s one thing to see a miniature train loop around your Christmas tree on a 40-inch diameter circle. It’s one thing to see large-scale model trains cruise through the iconic landmarks of Indianapolis and the American West along 1,200 feet of track. But this is Jingle Rails or, to use its full name, Jingle Rails: The Great Western Adventure. Created exclusively for Eiteljorg, the annual holiday show has become as much a family tradition as Christmas at the Zoo’s Indianapolis Zoo.

Living wonders. Jingle Rails is one part Indianapolis, two parts American West, and three parts festive. The show includes miniature versions of Monument Circle and Lucas Oil Stadium, which are surrounded by lights, snow, trees, and poinsettias. There’s even a prototype version of the Indiana State Fair, which is getting a new building this year: the Glass Barn. (It’s the overly tapered structure on the north side of the fairgrounds.) As Eiteljorg celebrates the art, history, and culture of Native Americans and the American West, Jingle Rails also features miniature versions of several national parks, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Las Vegas Strip, and Old Faithful , which, thanks to dry ice, is already “erupting”. Evergreen boughs and fluffy fake snow—which looks like cotton candy but certainly isn’t—covers the viewer.

Measurement matters. Jingle Rails has nine G-scale trains. At a 1:22.5 scale ratio, the…