Brian should (but probably can't) understand that the Santa Cruz line was bought with rail/transit money, and has to be used for that primary purpose. Bike trail money comes from a different (and smaller) pot. And there *will* be a bike trail along major parts of the line, eventually, if known plans are carried out. He just wants it all, and Evil Thomas has to go away.

And now for something not very different:

There have been several meetings in El Dorado County recently regarding the remains of the SP Placerville Branch. While it's unlikely that the line will ever by restored as a real railroad, there are groups that use it occasionally, and maintain it, for light tourist duty. The bike trail people of course want the rails gone, period, and have been successful at that east of Missouri Flat Road. Those are, admittedly, fairly nice bike paths, and the railroad there had been cut off for years anyway, but now they want to extend it all the way to Folsom. City of Folsom has made noises like they agree with the bike folks - dumb, because they need the line for connection between the older part of town and their expansion area, even if they don't admit that for now. Certain property owners with big expensive spreads along the line don't want either a railroad or a bike trail, and have the lawyers and political contribution funds to matter. So it's the usual confused mess.

I haven't been able to get to the El Dorado County meetings (inconvenient times/places) and would be ignored anyway (no official affiliation, and I don't live in El Dorado County). If anybody who does have suitable affiliation and/or representation is interested check the County web sites for details.

The line is owned by a joint powers agency of El Dorado & Sacramento Counties. The part of it from Folsom to Sacramento was used for the Sac RT light rail Gold Line.