Final Weekend: America the Beautiful Model Trains at Cheekwood

This is the last weekend for Cheekwood's summer train display, and the closing date is firm: it ends Sunday, September 6, and Cheekwood is closed Labor Day Monday. If the trains have been on your list all summer, the window is now three days wide.

The installation fills the Bradford Robertson Color Garden with more than 850 feet of track and ten running trains, threading past scale recreations of national parks and American landmarks — built as a nod to the country's 250th birthday. It has run for eighteen weeks and rewards the kind of slow, crouch-down looking that small children do naturally.

Gates are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Admission covers the gardens; ages 2 and under and members get in free, and a parking fee applies to non-members at checkout. Buying online ahead of a holiday weekend is the safer move.