Star of New York Train Display Arrives in Washington
By Adrian Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 16, 2004; Page H01
Paul Busse flips a switch in the conservatory of the U.S. Botanic Garden and his creation comes to life. Busse's blue eyes seem to flash -- the wicked passion of Dr. Frankenstein, perhaps? -- but his monster is benign and whistles like a train.
Or, rather, five trains, two trolley cars, 600 feet of track on four levels, a gushing waterfall, three crowning bridges and much more. As garden railroading has become a big hobby in the United States, and public gardens clamor to join the craze, Busse has become the guy to tap.
A youthful 55-year-old with a mop of salt-and-pepper hair and beard to match, Busse offers something different from regular train layouts: a horticultural integrity that makes them appropriate for botanical institutions. Busse, a landscape architect, creates volumes and textures with his displays and likes to direct views in a way that gives an illusion of depth in a relatively confined space. His greatest feat, however, is the construction of model buildings and bridges fashioned from dried plant material, even if that happens to be a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge, 28 feet long and 14 feet high.
The trains provide a kinetic link to the three exhibition islands, wending through tunnels and across bridges, past villages, and along valleys of dwarf conifers and drifts of poinsettias.
Busse hit the scene 13 years ago at the New York Botanical Garden, where his holiday train display today draws 126,000 visitors over seven weeks. The Brooklyn Bridge is the latest Big Apple landmark at the New York show, which now totals 128 structures, including the Chrysler Building, the Statue of Liberty and St. Patrick's Cathedral.
His first show in Washington, which opened Friday and runs until Jan. 9, is smaller, occupying the West Gallery of the U.S. ...More...
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