railroad property

[metaladdict]

We have abandoned tracks in Marin county where I have not seen anyone who owns them. I wouldn't detect them because there is nothing there.
I have found old bottles under the tracks in the mud in greenbrae ( You know the bridge Clint Eastwood jumps onto the schoolbus in Dirty Hairy).

 

[Spartan84]

I use to love walking and playing around the tracks by my house as a kid.

The trains would come through slow and the conductors would wave and throw us bottles of water in the summer.

Hell one day they stopped and let me come up in. Went down the tracks a bit then dropped me off. Never forget that.

This was in the 90's


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[msand]

I use to love walking and playing around the tracks by my house as a kid. The trains would come through slow and the conductors would wave and throw us bottles of water in the summer.
Hell one day they stopped and let me come up in. Went down the tracks a bit then dropped me off. Never forget that.
This was in the 90's Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

Spartan84, that's a really cool story. Say? what is your aviator?

 

[Spartan84]

Spartan84, that's a really cool story. Say? what is your aviator?

It's a character from the spartan movie "300"

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[Sonny b]

Good thread. It never occurred to me that there were rules about RR tracks. A couple times over the years I stopped and hunted near some tracks. I quit bothering with them because those rocks they use to build the foundation under the tracks make for some brutal digging. Now I have two reasons not to hunt tracks.

 

[Dirtfishn350]

In my town the RR love's to write tickets! Also know that they (RR) own 6ft on both sides of the tracks. Beware...

 

[Dirt Nuker]

What do you guys think about abandoned railroads?

We have abandoned tracks in Marin county where I have not seen anyone who owns them. I wouldn't detect them because there is nothing there.
I have found old bottles under the tracks in the mud in greenbrae ( You know the bridge Clint Eastwood jumps onto the schoolbus in Dirty Hairy).

I've had my eye on an old site where a train wreck happened over 100+ years ago. The tracks have been gone for decades and the railroad property has been listed as "abandoned" since 1959. In the clear right?

Wrong.

Last March the Supreme Court ruled that once railroad property is abandoned by the railroad, ownership reverts back to the landowner. Apparently it came to a head with the Rails to Trails people. So, my trek on the old railroad property to get to the site has hit a snag (for now). The site is along a decent-sized river so I doubt a trek up the riverbank from the road will ruffle any feathers.

 

[Ricki7]

The answers here reflect answers I got on another thread. One new concern posted here , the danger of getting hit while walking accross the tracks . Really ?
You can't see or hear a train ? How do you cross a highway that does not have a signal , has to be pure terror for you.
HH

 

[pawaide]

Has nobody else ever left an area disgusted from every high tone that could be found being a hot chunk of anthracite?

Even if you were allowed to detect on the rail lines. My experience (as limited as it is, granted....) is that those areas are rife with false signals. I spent a couple hours near an abandoned rail station last summer, thinking I had the permission of a lifetime. I couldn't BUY a proper signal to save my life. I finally gave up when I realized a pulltab would have made me happy.

 

[mountain digger]

Norfolk Southern railroad has a line going through my town, 2 tracks actually. Can I detect in the area between and along the tracks? Lots of dirt, sand, and gravel. I already walk my dog back there and have never had a problem with anyone saying anything about me being there, but maybe detecting is different.

I would raise one question: Is the area you would like to detect publicly owned property or privately owned property? Once you determine the correct answer, look to the Code of Ethics for guidance.

Please note that just because a public ROW may exist doesn't change ownership of a property. Easements and ROWs generally are created to grant specific rights to users such as ingress, egress, use for a specific purpose, etc. The actual landowner (possibly the RR company in this case?) probably did not give up any other property rights that any landowner has by law (such as not allowing MDing).

Edit to add: private property requires landowner permission.

 

[slag]

I didn't see it posted yet but don't dream of picking up any railroad track parts if there are any laying around. It is against the law to be in possession of any railroad components.


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To clarify, if I have railroad ties or sections of track, that is against the law? What law?

I'm truthfully curious about this.

 

[GLASSHOPPER1955]

Years ago (like 25) We would walk along RR tracks looking for old insulators under the telephone poles. Train engineers would wave "Hi" at us. Post 911, I sure wouldn't now. All the Amtrack lines by me have very seriously worded "No Trespassing" signs at every road crossing. I have no desire to end up in the Gray Bar Hotel.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... All the Amtrack lines by me have very seriously worded "No Trespassing" signs at every road crossing. I have no desire to end up in the Gray Bar Hotel.

Curious then how you get your car across those tracks , without ending up in the Gray Bar Hotel ?

 

[GLASSHOPPER1955]

Curious then how you get your car across those tracks , without ending up in the Gray Bar Hotel ?

Public Road Easement.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Public Road Easement.

good answer. Ok, next question: How did all those generations of kids avoid the "grey bar hotel", when they put pennies on the track for the train to smash ? (assuming it wasn't at the exact location of a road crossing, that is) .

 

[GLASSHOPPER1955]

good answer. Ok, next question: How did all those generations of kids avoid the "grey bar hotel", when they put pennies on the track for the train to smash ? (assuming it wasn't at the exact location of a road crossing, that is) .

Answer: "All those generations" of kids lived in the "Good Old Days" before control freaks ran everything (9-11 changed a lot of how police and government treat things), and people weren't collecting "brownie points" calling the law on any and everything they didn't like somebody doing.

I don't make the laws or spend my life trying to bend 'em, I just obey them.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Answer: "All those generations" of kids lived in the "Good Old Days" before control freaks ran everything (9-11 changed a lot of how police and government treat things), and people weren't collecting "brownie points" calling the law on any and everything they didn't like somebody doing.

I don't make the laws or spend my life trying to bend 'em, I just obey them.

Could be. Guess I won't be putting pennies on the RR tracks then. Wouldn't want to end up in the grey-bar hotel with "bubba" as my cell-mate. He too was probably guilty of the same grievous offense afterall.

 

[gianetics]

forget the can you or cant you arguments. unless its near an old depot its hell to hunt. on a whim i hunted some abandoned tracks in town. the amount of iron was just horrific plus the homless people love to sleep there and have thrown thousands of bottle caps there. maybe in a small town or a stretch of track far away from town. after about 2 hours of digging rock hard ground for some clad and deep iron i told myself no more train tracks. of course unless you find something historically important like and old depot, battle, event , ect. if these tracks are in a big city i would not want to deal with RR police to begin with.

 

[Jarrett]

Probably not worth hunting them anyway. Too much garbage too many rocks and gravel. Too far from civilization. Who cares if it's right or wrong it's just not worth it. It would be comparable to hunting a road a mile away from anything. Now if there was an old station there it would be a different story. I got permission to hunt a few old stations next to tracks with 2 conditions 1: I had to wear a high vis vest and 2: stay off the tracks. Permission was granted no problem. But then again I live in canada where we don't spend most our days obsessing over fear mongering terror tactics to keep our population in line. Seen a lot of posts about post 911 just curious how anything is differant than pre 911 other than a whole bunch of obscure rules. I'm sure I just got flagged by the CIA or NSA and am on a no fly list now. But come on what is this world coming to when a person can't even smush a penny on a railroad track without being threatened by some bs law. I'd say stick up for your rights to be free break out from the oppressive fear and squish that penny that you found while detecting by some railroad tracks. Just don't call me looking for bail money when your at the grey bar hotel for trespassing and trying to derail a train with a penny