(CHATTANOOGA) The beautiful fall colors in Tennessee are starting to explode, and a short hour and a half day-trip away you can ride the rails through fall at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at 4119 Cromwell Road in Chattanooga. 

Yes, you actually take a railroad adventure across bridges and through century a old pre-Civil War tunnel on Missionary Ridge, while also enjoying fall in the Volunteer State! 

If you love trains, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga is for you. It's mission statement reads, "To collect for preservation, operation, interpretation, and display railroad artifacts in an authentic setting to educate the public concerning the role of railroads in the history and development of our region." 

You can spend several hours at the museum and ride from their Cromwell Road depot to their East Chattanooga station, watch the engine turn-around on the turntable and get ready for the return trip. 

While at that terminal, you also get a tour of the restoration garage and see some of their massive engine rebuild projects. 

Operations Supervisor Steve Freer (left) welcomed WGNS' Bart Walker and him feel right at home.  Here's Bart's conversation with Steve conversation from inside the Cromwell Road depot. 

The lobby is beautifully recreated, and includes a waiting lobby where passengers purchased tickets and waited for the arriving train. It was an adventure back to earlier days. 

Close your eyes and step back with us in time as we talk with Steve Freer . . .

In addition to the excursions at the museum, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum also offers dinner train trips, Halloween excursions, fall adventures and even Christmas themed train rides. 

For more information about TVRM, check their website at www.TVrail.com. 

Oh--and don't eat before you get there. Relive all of the fun of train travel...enjoy some food in their authentic deli at the Cromwell Road depot. 

A word to the wise, take-in the "Missionary Ridge Local" adventure quickly, so that you'll have plenty of time to enjoy some of their fall excursion adventures. This is an advenuture everyone will enjoy, and it's only an hour and a half drive from Murfreesboro.