Marines in Iraq can tune in and watch Holiday Toy Express at Pendleton

Marines in Iraq can tune in and watch Holiday Toy Express at Pendleton

By: North County Times wire services - CAMP PENDLETON - Marines at Camp Fallouja, Iraq will have a front- row seat when the annual Metrolink Holiday Toy Express train pulls into the Camp Pendleton train station this evening.

Special internet and satellite feeds and TV cameras at both ends will allow Marines deployed in the Sunni triangle to participate in the goings-on in California, as a 450-ton Metrolink train chugs onto Camp Pendleton, festooned with 50,000 Christmas lights, ornaments and decorations.

"It should be wonderful, with a big Jumbotron on the stage to feed pictures from Iraq back to the families here," said Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell.

The special train will be carrying 1,000 Metrolink teddy bears for kids on the base, which will be distributed at the party as pictures are fed to Iraq on the web.


The visit comes at a tender time on the base, as Christmas is looming at about the same time that 11,000 sailors and Marines from the 1st Expeditionary Force will deploy to the Anbar province for 15-month tours. Some 14,000 Marines from the San Diego County base are already there.

Verizon, Tandberg and Mesh City have installed extra equipment at the base for the special 90-minute teleconference, and the nonprofit Freedom Calls Foundation is using its satellite capacity for the international TV relay.

For 11 years, Metrolink has shuttled a special holiday train around its 54 stops in Southern California, collecting toys for the annual Marine Corps "Toys For Tots" and firefighters "Spark Of Love" toy drives.

Eight Metrolink trains per weekday travel from Oceanside to either Los Angeles or Riverside, and one is parked overnight on a siding on the giant Marine base.

Ellie