If there is one thing California lacks besides water, it has to be the ability to set priorities. Once again I say: How did the high-speed train become a priority?

As I type this, the song, “Over the Rainbow,” started playing. How appropriate can that get? These over-the-rainbow ideas we all voted on and now don’t really want.

One of the great comments I got was that maybe we should get Amtrak upgraded so it runs through the existing rail system and we don’t have to take a bus to Bakersfield to take the inland route north.

I, for one, would love to take a train over the Tehachapi Loop. You know, that big circle in the tracks between the Antelope Valley and Bakersfield that allows trains to climb the grade over the mountains without a lot of switchbacks and tunnels. One of the major railroading marvels in the whole world.

Anyway, being able to take the train from Union Station in Los Angeles over the mountains would be a huge improvement in our rail service. I think buying a train ticket and getting on a 45-mile bus ride is rather stupid, don’t you?

Tehachapi Loop.

That loop was built in 1874, and when in 1876 the golden spike was hammered home at Lang Station here in the SCV (not far from Sand Canyon), the connection between northern and Southern California was complete. That line has been in continuous use since then. Somewhat amazing, isn’t it?

The coastal route has excellent passenger service that you can board in many places along the line. Improving the existing railroads would do much to cure many of the transportation problems we have in the state and at a much, much lower cost.

Sure, we won’t have a high-speed train like those in Europe and elsewhere, but we would have good and reliable rail service up and down the state. Isn’t that what is needed?

People take trains for the simple joy of being able to watch the scenery go by, much like when you’re in a car. But it is something more than that. There is a romance to the rails that a 200-mph train just can’t get. Really, if you want to get to San Francisco quickly, take a plane.

Much of the electrical power for the train will come from various hydroelectric plants in the state. Well, maybe not. You see, we have a water shortage, and thus not as much electricity can be generated.

Then there are the “renewable energy” sources. Wind and solar. If the wind doesn’t blow and the sun don’t shine, what is there? Plus, without the hydroelectric plants, the electric grid will have to be used for the usual things like homes and factories and … what priority is that train, anyway? Do you want to go fast in a train, or have electricity in your home? You voted on it when you voted in favor of funding the train.

We have a huge gullibility factor here in the formerly great state of California. Ask the folks in Val Verde about trusting Chiquita Canyon Landfill’s promise to shut down and not request an extension. Same goes for the high-speed rail system.

We are a gullible lot, we Californians. We took the bait of a high-speed train so we could be hip, slick and cool, just like those folks in other countries – and here we are. Well, the first 29 miles are being built from nowhere to noplace by a contractor who is the husband of our Senator in D.C.

The future financing of the project might not be available. In 2017, much of the federal money goes away, and the other funding will have been used. It may be the most expensive 29 miles of track ever laid.

We were sure gullible when we said “yes” to that project. We believed what we were told. We thought our transportation problems would be solved. We believed we could go from Los Angeles to San Francisco in less than three hours.

Yes, we thought it was a good idea at the time. Seemed like the logical thing to do. Hindsight being what it is, I’ve only one more thing to add: Can we get a drink of water? We’re kind of thirsty here. Oh, the train is our priority?

Can’t replace water with that. Have you tried to drink a glass of rail? Or water your few live plants with a railroad tie?

I’ll bet it tastes funny.

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley, where he serves as executive director of the SCV Historical Society. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com. His older commentaries are archived at DManzer.com; his newer commentaries can be accessed [here]. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].