"Micheal Artindale" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
| I a wondering what kind of precations i should take when
| riding on old railbeds. The line is abandoned, and trails
| havent run through for about 5 years. The rails, ties, and
| the rock are still there. It is legal to use them, i asked
| a local police officer.
|
| Micheal
Riding unused tracks can be a legally tricky thing. If the
line is simply out of service (meaning the railroad no
longer runs trains over it) it is still owned by the
railroad and they can (and often do) enforce a no
trespassing policy.
If a line is abandoned (a legal definition where the
railroad will no longer maintain the line) then the land it
sits on can either be sold (difficult unless the road owns
adjacent land,) reverted to the state or to the Federal
Government (depending whether the line was part of a land
grant.) In any case, the owner can post no trespassing on
any of these.
For safety's sake, make certain the line you're talking
about is actually out of service/abandoned. Despite our
thinking that trains are noisy beasts, they have snuck up on
many track walkers (in your case rider.) There are thousands
of miles of active railroad that sees very little traffic.
Rusty rails are not an indication of abandonment as clean,
naked steel can rust in days. There is a line near my house
that sees one train a week currently and looks like dog's
dinner except right after it passes (when the rails look
bright and shiny again.)
Your state DOT might be a good place to start.
Nelson <--- train buff and model railroader before he was
a bike nut.
---
__o _`\(,_ Cycling is life, (_)/ (_) all the rest,
just details. The Nelson Paradigm =^o.o^=
http://intergalax.com http://intbike.com
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