All aboard for a lifetime of memories! Your favorite holiday tradition returns to the Brandywine Museum of Art with model trains, dollhouses, and other miniature wonders, along with towering trees adorned with our signature, handmade “Critter” ornaments.
A holiday favorite since 1972, the Brandywine Railroad features model trains running on 2,000 feet of track and contains more than 1,000 pieces, including locomotives, passenger and freight trains, and trolleys that pass through a small village, a farm, factories, a drive-in movie theater and even a carnival. A dazzling array of both toy and scale model trains can be seen chugging through the varied scenery of the expansive O-gauge layout, including those made by Lionel, Williams, Atlas, Mike’s Train House, K-line and others. There's also a variety of interactive push buttons and foot pedals for visitors to engage with on the display.
Support for the Brandywine Railroad holiday train display is provided by The Davenport Family Foundation Fund for Exhibitions, Chase, and Herr Foods.
NEW THIS YEARHome for the Holidays: Cards and Hearths from the Collection
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In addition to the returning favorites on view, visitors are also invited to celebrate what connects us during the holiday season—such as opportunities to gather under one roof and the sharing of warm messages from afar—in Home for the Holidays: Cards and Hearths from the Collection, a new exhibition that will be on view in the Brandywine's Strawbridge Family Gallery. Tiny TreasuresHome for the Holidays will feature a selection of Brandywine’s dollhouses, including two rooms from a nine-foot dollhouse designed by Ann Wyeth McCoy and built by her husband, artist John McCoy. The rooms of this dollhouse are filled with handmade furnishings and miniature paintings contributed by Wyeth McCoy’s famously artistic siblings and in-laws—a communal, family endeavor that paid tribute to the Wyeth’s close-knit holiday gatherings. These two rooms will be accompanied by the Brandywine’s first presentation of the Peters-Herdeg dollhouse, a detailed replica of an 18th century Georgian-style manor that recently entered the Museum’s collection. Image
From Mailbox to MuseumThis exhibition will also feature original designs for holiday cards from the collections of the Brandywine Museum of Art and the Andrew & Betsy Wyeth Study Center. Several members of the Wyeth family illustrated holiday cards, both for commercial sale and for personal exchange between their friends and family. This exhibition will show examples of these designs by the Wyeths as well as holiday-inspired greetings from other prominent regional artists and illustrators. |
Holiday Hours:
Beginning November 15, 2025 through January 4, 2026, the Brandywine Museum of Art will be open daily, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Thanksgiving & Christmas Day, and closing early on Christmas Eve at 1 p.m.). The Brandywine Railroad holiday train display and Home for the Holidays: Cards and Hearths from the Collection are both included in the cost of general admission.