Actually, what we're hearing around Humboldt is that local kazillionaire-developer Rob Arkley has privately funded a study of a proposed line not along 299 but over the "milder" territory traversed by Hwy 36. He is said to have paid a pretty penny for the secret study, which is hard to figure since you don't get rich enough to do stupid stuff like that by doing stupid stuff like that. Maybe he just really really likes trains. I figure if Caltrans can't keep a (mostly) two-lane road on the side of the hill without constant work, it's just another version of the Eel Canyon.