Cheekwood unveils its largest model train exhibition, celebrating America 250

Cheekwood is turning the Bradford Robertson Color Garden into a coast-to-coast rail journey, and the scale is what sets it apart. America the Beautiful: National Parks & Landmarks By Rail will run from May 2 through September 6, 2026, and Cheekwood says it will be the largest and most elaborate model train exhibition ever presented on the estate.

The display brings 10 running trains, more than 850 feet of track and 25 handcrafted landmarks into one landscape built around America’s 250th anniversary. The theme gives the installation a bigger frame than a standard seasonal show: this is a model railroad spectacle tied to the nation’s 250th birthday, with federal America250 and Freedom 250 efforts underway and Tennessee America 250 programming active statewide.

The marquee scenes read like a collector’s wish list translated into garden scale. The exhibition includes a 22-foot Golden Gate Bridge, a Statue of Liberty on special loan from the New York Botanical Garden, and a run of Tennessee landmarks that gives the show a local spine. Visitors will see the Ryman Auditorium, Graceland, Beale Street and Great Smoky Mountains sites, including Cable Mill, John Oliver Cabin and Little Greenbrier School.

Cheekwood says every structure is hand-crafted from natural materials such as willow branches, cedar, acorn caps, moss, pinecones and bark. That handmade approach is part of the appeal for model railroad fans, who know the difference between a simple display and a miniature world built with real scenic discipline. The overall concept traces a national route from the Statue of Liberty to the Great Smoky Mountains and on to the Golden Gate Bridge, with a waterfall and other landmark scenes filling out the route.

Applied Imagination of Alexandria, Kentucky, the team behind Cheekwood’s year-round TRAINS! installation, created the exhibition. Cheekwood says the company has led the garden railway work there for more than ten years, and the permanent TRAINS! display remains open in the Turner Seasons Garden. That gives visitors two different train experiences on the same campus, one seasonal and one year-round.

The permanent display opened in 2018 with G-scale trains about 1/22 the size of real trains, and the Enchanted Express expansion followed in 2022. The summer exhibition builds on that history with a bigger footprint and a more explicit historical theme, making the whole campus feel like a living model railroad destination rather than a single exhibit.

Opening weekend, May 2-3, will add live music, children’s art activities, adult workshops, a self-guided garden activity and food trucks. Kelsey Rae Copeland is scheduled to perform on May 2 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., followed by Aaron Till and Mickey Justice on May 3 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets are timed-entry and require advance reservation, with support from the Crossman Family and Mary & Larry Wieck.