What a small world! One of my relatives is buried in the Hughson cemetery. He probably loves the sounds of the trains passing by.

That said, a lot of the screeching about HSR and farmland sounds to me like "please, Mr. Railroad, buy me out (at my price)." I'm no fan of the HSR plan but I think a huge amount of the so-called degradation of farmland can easily be mitigated, either by money or land swaps. I respect all the farmers calling attention to the degradation, but everyone on the HSR roster has started rent-seeking and I suspect farming interests are no exception.