Tiny train helps kids at Union Station

The train display measures 42 feet by 16 feet.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With the blow of a whistle and a call of "all aboard," a festive model train was set in motion Friday as part of the fifth annual "Norwegian Christmas at Union Station" in Washington. The event also kicked off the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve's Capitol-area "Toys for Tots" campaign.

The train display -- billed as the largest portable Scale G model train in the world -- measures 42 feet by 16 feet and features several sets of railcars winding their way through a Norwegian landscape filled with snow-covered mountains, calming fjords and sneaky trolls. Portable as the train may be, it was no easy feat to put together. Its Norwegian builder, Styrkar Braathen, told CNN it took about a week to set up.

Norwegian Ambassador Knut Vollebaek, Marine Lt. Col. Gregory Andrews, District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey were joined by about 35 children from the local Boys and Girls Club, who enjoyed getting their faces painted and watching "toy soldiers" make candy cane balloons. Vollebaek presented the Marine Corps with the first two official gifts for the D.C. Toys for Tots program: a friendly troll from Norway and a model Acela train.

The Norwegian train extravaganza will be on display until December 31. The Marine Corps has set up 252 collection sites, including a booth at Union Station, for donations of new, wrapped toys. It will be collecting toys through December 16.

Last year, the Marines distributed 125,000 toys to district kids in need.