King Nutcracker at Union Station Poster

"King Nutcracker at Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri" by Catherine Sherman. An almost life-sized King Nutcracker stands in an area decorated with giant toys, train, gifts and Christmas trees in the Grand Plaza of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. Children can ride in a small train that circles the area. Adjoining is the Model Railroad Experience. There are 8,000 square feet of toy trains, ranging from tiny N-scale model trains to the big G-scale giants of the model train world. People can also take a real train from Union Station. Built in 1914, Union Station contains 850,000 square feet of ornately decorated space that originally featured 900 rooms. In the Station's prime years as a working train station, it accommodated hundreds of thousands of passengers each year. During World War II, an estimated one million travelers – many of them soldiers -- passed through the Station. The North Waiting Room (now Sprint Festival Plaza) held 10,000 people and the complex included restaurants, a cigar store, barber shop, railroad offices, the nation's largest Railway Express Building (used for shipping freight and mail) as well as a powerhouse providing steam and power. Closed in the 1980s, the Station sat empty and neglected, narrowly escaping demolition on several occasions. Then, in 1996, a historic bi-state initiative was passed to fund the Station's renovation, which was completed in grand fashion in 1999.