All aboard! Train ride 18 years in the making opens at Maple Valley Christmas tree farm

MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. -- A local tree farm has something special this year for Christmas tree seekers both young and old.

Harvey Hawken, owner of Crystal Creek Tree Farm in Maple Valley, has spent the past 18 years bringing a special Christmas train to life.

He found a diesel locomotive in British Columbia almost two decades ago, and then he got to work, even laying the train track himself.

The track is a mile long, and the coach carries about 20 people per trip.

It's a chance for some extra family fun while picking out your Christmas tree, but Hawken said you don't even have to buy a tree to ride the train. The train, called the Crystal Creek, Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad, runs on donations, he said.

Q13 Photojournalist Scott Hopson took the tour. Here's what he saw: