All aboard for a fun-filled train ride on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

[lively music] - The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad is a chance to experience history.

Located in Bryson City, North Carolina, we're about 55 miles west of Asheville, North Carolina.

We run excursion trains on about 52 miles of track.

This is an actual chance to be a part of history to ride on old railroad equipment and railroading was one of the only means of transportation.

- So guests throughout the entire year can experience a Nantahala Gorge excursion or a Tuckasegee River excursion.

They go opposite ends on our track line.

The Nantahala Gorge Excursion takes you a 44-mile round trip through the Nantahala Gorge and the Tuckasegee River Excursion goes on a 32-mile round trip to Dillsboro, North Carolina.

You are experiencing everything from rivers to bridges to a big long trestle that we have.

It's about 750 feet long.

It's got four tresses across Fontana Lake, and then after that you go up about six miles through the Nantahala Gorge and you're surrounded by the Nantahala River and beautiful mountain sights on either side of the track.

- The museum's been here 22 years.

It's a model train museum.

Specifically Lionel model trains.

Tim Cooper, the guy who created all of this many years ago, had started collecting when he was a kid and he never stopped.

And when he retired he had 3,000 plus model trains.

You can just learn about railroading and interacting with the people they, people come here from all over the world to ride the big train and it's just a lot of fun.

- Polar Express, yes.

Our biggest event that we have, if you've seen the movie, the Polar Express movie has been around for about 20 years this year.

It is an amazing movie.

We bring the movie to life on board our train from scripts to dancing.

I love seeing the passengers faces.

You understand that you're making a positive impact on their life and that they're going to remember forever and you're bringing the magic to life for them.

[lively music] - Train travel is special because you get an opportunity to go back to the early days when it took several days to go from Bryson City to Asheville.

And when you get on a train ride, you kind of step back in time.

You will start experiencing more time together with family and friends.

You're enjoying the clickety-clack of the rail, the romancing of the rail and the scenery.

And just thinking back in time about the early days when our grandparents and our parents were out moving around.

- It's really nice to see how they preserve the history where it's not like, you know, completely changed.

When that little guy saw the steam locomotive come in, he was just like enthralled, couldn't take his eyes off of it.

Choo choo, choo choo.

- It's very easy, easy to park, easy to find where you need to go.

Everybody's been really friendly.

It was just a really simple, relaxing day.

So we enjoyed it very much.

- We don't take trains anymore and they're becoming a historical aspect.

It's really how it was in the olden days.

You just hop on a train and you don't know anyone else and you just start conversations and you enjoy.

And that's really what we try to aim for and what we try to set.

[lively music] - You'll find the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad at 45 Mitchell Street in Bryson City and they're open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM daily.

Call 800-872-4681 or visit their website gsmr.com to learn more or book your tickets.