UP just tore up the Wendell to Susanville track in December. Once you get to Westwood on the F&L where would you go? Likewise when you get to Blue Lake on the A&MR, where would you go? Sounds like somebody has some mighty long tunnels in mind through the Sierra crest and the Coast Range that would soak up a lot more than 4.6 billion dollars. I doubt any of the existing right of way east of Arcata or west of Susanville would be adaptable to a sceem like this. You are talking about a whole new railroad. It sounds like somebody sat down and drew an east-west line on a map from point A to point B with absolutely no sense of geography?

A century ago SP and some "thinkers" were floating the idea of a Hydesville to Red Bluff electrified connection to the SP mainline using some long tunnels between the upper Van Duzen River and the Platina area, roughly parallel to Highway 36. It's takeoff point would have been the end of the Carlotta Branch which still exists today. Revival of this route would make more sense than Wendell to Arcata. At least it would make Humboldt Bay competitive with Coos Bay's short route to the mainline. Obviously nothing ever came of this but it has received some press in recent years.
Alf Doten