R 'n' R with a Li'l RR

What is the holiday season without an imaginary trip on a model railway? A failure of epic proportions, that's what. The annual Gardenland Express rolls into the Missouri Botanical Garden (4344 Shaw Boulevard) once again, allowing patrons to visit a world where mass transit is clean, efficient and always on time. This year's theme is "Wilderness Escape," a salute to our country's national parks that includes a model of Yellowstone National Park's Old Faithful Inn, as well as a reproduction of the Old Faithful geyser itself. This being the botanical garden, plenty of live dwarf shrubs, conifers and mosses provide a lush, verdant backdrop for those steam-powered fantasies. Gardenland Express chugs along its 1,500 feet of track from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Tuesday, January 1; the garden is closed on Christmas Day, so the wee engineer can eat dinner with the little woman. Admission is $3 (in addition to the regular garden admission fee of $2 to $8). For more event information, call 314-577-9400 or visit www.mobot.org.
Nov. 21-Dec. 24; Dec. 26-Jan. 1, 2007