This route is based on a railway in Northern California, the North Coast Railroad, which was later operated by the Northwestern Pacific Railroad as the Eel River Division. This line connected the San Francisco Bay area with the Northern California city of Eureka. The line primarily hauled freight, especially timber products, though some passenger excursion trains passed through. The line operated until 1998, when flooding washed out some sections of track.

This route contains the track starting from the south at Willits and ending north beyond the city of Eureka. Most of it follows the Eel River. Willits has a yard and engine facilities. These yards are an interchange point, and the California Western Railroad (Skunk Train) uses the station for its excursion trains. The southern stretch of the route passes through rugged, scenic sections of canyon. In the northern stretch of the route, the canyon widens and the tracks pass a number of towns as they approach Eureka. There are many sidings and switching areas along this northern part of the route. Along here, Highway 101 follows the tracks. A short branch extends from the line at Alton to reach a lumber mill at Carlotta. Eureka contains a small yard and engine facilities. North of Eureka, the tracks curve around Humboldt Bay to reach other towns. The entire trackage of the Arcata & Mad River Railroad, a logging shortline that traveled northwest of Arcata to a mill at Korbel, is included in the route. This line was a subsidiary of the NCR.

In total, the main line in the route is about 161 miles. The entire stretch of track that the North Coast Railroad operated on is modeled. As in the prototype, there are no signals along the route.