I was wondering how a ROW was determined? I am a manager of a business that has been taking care of an area under the lines of the NS. I was told today to stop because this wasnt our property. This area has been used by the business for 75 years!! Are the property lines from the rails out as is in a roadway or how is it determined. The area I speak of is at least 90 feet from the rails. I am just wondering if this RUDE gentlemen was correct or just liked being an ***?
In general a railroad can have a wide right of way for one of several reasons. There could have been more than one main track there at one time or anouther. Anouther thought is that the railroad who built the line could have been a railroad that only exsited on paper and when completed went under a 999 year lease meaning that a railroad runs on it while leaseing it from a frount company that pays the property tax on it.
Sometimes the right of way was put at such a width so as to make adjustments around obsticles that could pose a problum during construction some times that railroad eather had planed or build a 2ed track in that area and never did or it did build a 2ed track but later removed it but retained the property for possable future use later.
NS is vary agressive in tracking down people who build on there property. They won a court case some place south of Geneva, NY a few years ago and had eather half a house or a garge riped down becouse it was built on a section of there right of way which extended 500 feet to the West of the single track. This area was a 2 track main line at one time.
