Shawn Tours the Greeley Freight Station Museum [PHOTOS, VIDEO, INTERVIEW]

My grandfather has been working on a model train set in his basement for 4 or 5 years now, and it is about four feet wide by about ten feet long. I always thought it was such a project and so neat, not to take anything away from my grandpa and what he has done, but it is not as neat to me as it used to be. Why you ask? I recently took a tour of the Greeley Freight Station Museum which is not just one of the biggest model railroad displays in Greeley, in Colorado, or even in the United States for that matter, but one of the biggest and best in the world.

Dave Trussell had dreams in his head of doing something like this for some time, and then with about 27,000 hours of volunteer labor and 5 and a half years of his time his dream came true. Now Greeley and the rest of the world is lucky enough to have Mr. Trussell opening the doors to one of the worlds biggest and best train exposes.

The model railroad is approximately 5,500 square feet, but its not just one big circle like the one in my grandpas basement, it actually models a real railroad during a real time period. The Oregon, California and Eastern Railway is depicted instead of a railway that is more local because of the ability to show all elements of a railway such as different terrains, towns, and the ability to depict a whole working railway. The train runs completely like you would see with the real thing complete with a dispatcher, engineers for each train, a ship yard to load and unload, and everything else you would see on a real railway. Almost every item on the track was built by Trussell and his team of volunteeers including 16,000 fir, 8,000 deciduous and 4,000 aspen trees, rivers abound, and hundreds of buildings and vehicles.

Along with the model railway the Greeley Freight Station Museum also hosts over six hundred real railroad artifacts. From benches that date back to the 1800's to signs and lanterns. The highlight being a full-sized Colorado and Southern wooden Caboose available for examining both inside and out. The museum also has a store filled with items to remember your visit including a replica of the caboose in the museum.

Here is a quick tour of the museum from behind my camera, but its short for a reason... It's much better to see in person than from a camera, so go see it live!

This is Michelle, who is the "Boss" at the museum, giving a quick overview of what the museum is all about.