Leadership in the Town of Murphy has been persuaded it should like train service to return. The Cherokee County Economic Development Commission, the NC DOT, and consultants at Stantec have been studying the prospects. A watercolor rendering, which is almost as good as a bar chart, already exists showing future Utopian prospects.

Kathleen Nolte of Murphy NC STEP, “an organization focused on small-town prosperity,” wants to create a transportation hub out yonder in the boonies. The Eastern Band of Cherokee is also interested. They would like to offer casino excursions. That’s all well and good if people get their thrills donning rhinestones and whizzing between money pits like a bump on a log. It’s another thing if rail is highly-subsidized, which I believe it is going to be. I don’t have the numbers, and I doubt anybody does. You’re supposed to dream big, demand, and then land a seat in higher office before the bill comes due. The counterargument, of course, is that this, and any waste of government money, is going to forge economic multiplication out the yin-yang. (See watercolor.)