John -- In a sense, one can argue that funding the C&TS is more problematic than the job faced by Amtrak. After all Amtrak has only one unpredictable source of funding, the US government; whereas the C&TS has to deal with two sets of state governments, Colorado and NM, that are supposed to contribute equally to funding capital improvements for the railroad. For the C&TS that means two state administrations and four legislative bodies, any one of which can kill an appropriation. Gotta be a better way.

Now we wait and see what happens in Colorado where, because of term limits, many of the legislators don't even know they own a successful historic steam mountain railroad, and only a handful appreciate that under the interstate compact with NM they have a contractual obligation to support the C&TS equally with NM. Fortunately the $1 million from NM will go a long way toward advancing the track rehabilitation.