Holiday Junction opens today at Cincinnati Museum Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 14 , 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Hefner (513) 608-5777, chefner@cincymuseum.org

Holiday Junction opens today at Cincinnati Museum Center

Cincinnati favorite Duke Energy Holiday Trains return for 79th season; Santa arrives Nov. 28

CINCINNATI – Amid trimmed trees and snowflakes, 50 well-oiled locomotives trailed by 300 railcars laden with coal, fresh-cut trees and circus performers begin the first of their more than 100,000 scale miles this holiday season. Cincinnati’s beloved holiday tradition Holiday Junction featuring the Duke Energy Holiday Trains opens today at Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC).

PHOTOS

Once again, CMC is also offering its best Membership deal of the season. All Memberships are 20% off through the holiday season, making it the perfect gift for a loved one or the perfect way to treat yourself.

Since 1946, families have gathered around the historic Duke Energy Holiday Trains, watching with wide-eyed whimsy as brightly-colored circus trains, sleek sleeper cars and coal-laden hopper cars (for those on the naughty list) zip around snowbanks and past crowded streets. Now in their 79th season, the holiday trains will charm crouching adults and shoulder-sitting children as the Cincinnati holiday tradition continues.

“The holiday season at Cincinnati Museum Center continues a Union Terminal tradition of reconnecting families scattered across the city or across the country as the Rotunda echoes with joyful greetings and laughter," said Elizabeth Pierce, president and CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center. “It's a tradition we're honored to continue and one we treasure as much as the historic Duke Energy Holiday Trains. Whether it’s as a gathering place for far-flung families, childhood friends or people putting down roots in a new city, holiday traditions live at Cincinnati Museum Center.”

The Duke Energy Holiday Trains may be the centerpiece, but spectacular train layouts with long legacies deck the halls of CMC’s whimsical winter wonderland.

A 1904 electric toy train from the Cincinnati-based Carlisle & Finch Company – who produced the first such electric toy train in 1896 – click-clacks over metal tracks and a wooden suspension bridge as it cruises past tin buildings. A pre-World War II Lionel layout and a 1960s Lionel Super O layout show the evolution of toy trains and prefabricated landscapes that have been the envy of smush-nosed kids peering through toy store windows for generations. And Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends chug around the mountains of Sodor.

Back again is a bustling metropolis of LEGO bricks crafted into fantastical scenes filled with playful masterpieces. Scour the nooks, crannies and rooftops for hijinks from the local residents in scenes from Star Wars, Harry Potter and more.

There’s even more to find in the holiday scavenger hunt. Symbols and icons of tristate pride will be nestled among the snow-blanketed hills and trees of the garden railway layout. Parents and kids alike will make multiple laps to find them all.

More than just trains, decades of iconic toys fill Holiday Junction, as if generations of holiday lists sprung to life in Star Wars, NERF, My Little Pony and Super Soaker toys.
 

Santa arrives Nov. 28
Of course, no holiday is complete without a visit to Santa. And we don’t think you’re ready for this bowl full of jelly because CMC’s Santa is too jolly-licious. The Jolly Old Elf makes his big arrival on Friday, November 28. And, regardless of which list you’re on, he’ll be sitting by his fireplace eager to put his elves to work on your holiday wish list.

 

Rocky Mountain Express returns to the OMNIMAX® Theater
If you still haven’t had your fill of trains after visiting Holiday Junction, pop into the OMNIMAX® Theater to catch Rocky Mountain Express. Climb aboard a steam-powered locomotive for a breathtaking journey along the Canadian Pacific Railway that’s equal parts train-loving nostalgia and stunning expanses of panoramic scenery.

Holiday Junction featuring the Duke Energy Holiday Trains runs through January 5, 2026. Visit cincymuseum.org/holiday-junction for more details and special holiday hours.