Actually, the group that built the bridge for the WW&F was a Marine construction unit from Detroit. Their visit was arranged by a Marine general who happened to be a WW&F member. I don't think such training exercises are happening these days due to multiple deployments overseas.

Hi,

This Graffiti Vandalism hit the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic in the late 1990s or early 2000s.

I seem to recall 3-5 wood box cars were spray painted in the yards (cars from about 1903). IIRC, the two culprits were caught and sentenced to as much community time to remove, repair, and repaint the wood cars they defaced.

It did not happen again. I also think they were local Chama (Pop. about 1000) residents that were inspired by SG defamation.

Doug vV

It may seem that "reserve units do all sorts of things as part of their training exercises" but actually do have their own specific training goals to achieve, and training is planned months (and sometimes years) in advance. It's even more important that they achieve their readiness goals if they're being mobilized and deploying. Typically that does not include extras that civilian rail enthusiasts create for them. If there's some activity they could do at a rail museum that would help them achieve their training goals, then there's the possibility of arranging something. Otherwise, not likely.

Keep in mind that Reservists and Guardsmen are in uniform for a very limited amount of time each year yet they and their units have specific training goals to achieve. There's never enough time to do everything, and drill weekends include not just training but various administrative matters, such as mandatory topics to be briefed to personnel, records reviews, professional military education (PME), etc.

[Do you seriously thing the taggers are going to walk past six husky marines and start spray painting the Santa train?] If this is important to people, I suggest that those same people volunteer to do it themselves, rather than volunteering others. Protecting rail equipment from two-legged rodents calls for 24/7 surveillance in all sorts of weather, and it's not something done on a 9 to 5 basis only on sunny days.

[Anyway, from time to time the military does provide guard details at public functions. I remember at the EAA fly-in at Oshkosh some years ago, when they flew in the then new B1-b bomber. The AP's set up a perimeter behind a line of little signs that read: "The base commander has authorized the use of deadly force..." Has a nice ring to it.]

Those guards are very likely members of a USAF Security Forces Squadron (previously called Security Police Squadrons and Air Police Squadrons in earlier eras) who are armed and trained for the task, they have security clearances to work the flight line in close proximity to aircraft, and their pay is coming out of someone's budget. They aren't just people with various backgrounds who happen to wear uniforms.

My comments are not meant to be negative; however, I spent many years in uniform, both in the active forces and the Reserve, and I can assure you there is much more to this than others realize.