On 2014-09-08, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:36:16 -0500, Ignoramus21905
wrote:
On 2014-09-05, wrote:
On Tuesday, August 19, 2014 10:03:34 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus26736 wrote:
As I mentioned earlier, I purchased some old railroad rails on a
private property.
Most scrap yards will not accept rail as 99.999% of it is owned by a
railroad, even on private property, even if it has been out of
service for years.
You might want to find out if the local yard will accept it before pulling it up.
All rail has been scrapped. I negotiated the price with scrap yard
before pulling the rails.
i
That business about the railroads owning abandoned rails has become a
sort of mixed bag. If it's on unused right-of-way but they still have
rights to an easement, the railroad probably owns it. If they abandon
it, the terms of the original easement, and state law,determine
whether the railroad still owns anything on the right-of-way.
It sounds like you're unlikely to encounter any problems in your
situation, but if you ever do a bigger deal like this, you'd better
check with the county land office and see if the land is encumbered or
if there are ancient easements. If there's much money in it, someone
could give you trouble.
We had a bit of a battle over this in my town, over an abandoned
Lehigh Valley coal line that we converted to a "Rails to Trails"
project.
Ed, when it comes to scrap, it is very often difficult to determine
who is the ultimate owner of equipment or material to be scrapped. For
example, a distant owner tells the local manager to "clean up the
place". Or, company A sold a building to company B, but claims to
still own copper wire in dedicated circuits, going to where company A
had its equipment. Or, as here, there are rotten and abandoned rails
on private property. Or, there is a building to be demolished and it
is not clear whether "Equipment in room 754b" also includes stainless
and copper piping under the ceiling, pumps and electronic control
equipment attached to that, 300 more feet of 4" copper pipe going to
the next room etc. Or, after an auction, my lot is missing, but I
offer to take down some 500 MCM wire going to an unused panel.
In all these cases, my number one concern is not to appear to be
stealing. To that end, I make sure that 1) I get a written receipt and
2) someone in position of authority knows where I am and what I am
doing, at least approximately.
I agree that, if or when it comes to dealing with larger rail
installations, a deeper research would be warranted.
i