Tiny Colorado

Greeley, CO is home to the Colrado Model Railroad Museum. The 5500 square foot museum is the largest model railroad facility in the United States. Whether you are young, old, or in-between, expect to leave the building with a big smile on your face!

Posted September 29, 2025

The museum’s primary layout is in HO scale ⏤ or 1:87th life size. Trains travel across a wide variety of Coloradoesque terrain, and through numerous towns and industrial areas. As seen in the photo above, the creative layout allows viewers to roam around for up-close viewing. Curators at the museum reported the model makers built 20,000 pine trees and 12,000 fall aspen trees for the layout. 

Besides the active train layouts, you’ll find the walls covered with vintage signs, railroad advertising, and tools. A gift shop, Charles Dickens Snow Village and a full sized caboose add to the experience. 

Note: If viewing the photos in the gallery on a desktop computer, click any image, then use left/right arrows on your keyboard to advance to the next image.

Loaded with Historic Details 

When trying to describe the museum, the most descriptive word that comes to mind is: WOW! I found myself immersed in a romantic slice of time from the late ’60s and mid-’70s. The level of craftsmanship and attention to detail overpowers your senses. Details like the period grafitti on the underpasses, signs on the buildings and structures, fishermen in the streams, and whitecaps on the water features draw you into the display. Of course, these are active train layouts, so it is only a matter of time before the next steam or diesel powered engine pulls a long string of cars through the scene. 

For what it’s worth, standing figures at HO scale are only .79″ tall! This place is amazing!

Gear and Settings

The photos on this page were taken with a Sony A1 body and a Tamron 35-150mm lens. I knew the shutter speeds would be long, so I took every photo using a sturdy tripod as a support. For the “still” shots, I set my camera in manual mode at ISO 400 and adjusted for a long sutter speed. For the moving trains, I changed the setting to ISO 5000 to help freeze the slow moving engines. The “charming look” in these photos is the result of the extreme shallow depth of field, especially when the focal plane is relatively close to the lens.

The beautiful Charles Dickens Snow Village display switches regularly from daytime to nightime mode. Lionel and American Flyer were two popular O Gauge sets. A Lionel layout can be viewed at the museum. A smaller N Gauge engine runs for a short time after a viewer presses the large red button at the display.