Railroad question on another forum

Cool! he's not just a land owner, he's a developer too!

Yowzer, Bowzer! Three different surveyors agree that the railroad is occupying a lot of ground to which they have no written claim. But, it sounds like all previous owners had ignored the situation.

One thing for sure. Warren Buffett and BNSF have more attorneys and money to pay them than any single landowner along any line they operate.

My personal experiance working with Union Pacific and BNSF rail.... The ROW can often be based on the CL of rail, which is a variable thing based on maintainace... And they also can pretty much do want they want, but also pay very fair prices for land they need but clearly do not own... Proving wha they do not own can be the hard part, being as many major railroad lines run through rural poorly monumented areas

I know in the "days of old" the railroad was the king, A1, got what they wanted. But times have changed. I have not taken the railroad to court. I see many railroads in my part of the world going out of business. I have located ROW for some major RR companies and they were pretty heavily monumented (rails driven into the earth at section lines) but of course, that may vary depending on location. All this is my way of saying it almost sounds like contractors not caring where they go or what they do, and a discussion with the railroad agent might be a good way to start this adventure. But, I know my advice and $5 may not get you a cup of coffee in your part of America.

Monte, post: 386130, member: 11913 wrote: I know in the "days of old" the railroad was the king, A1, got what they wanted. But times have changed. I have not taken the railroad to court. I see many railroads in my part of the world going out of business. I have located ROW for some major RR companies and they were pretty heavily monumented (rails driven into the earth at section lines) but of course, that may vary depending on location. All this is my way of saying it almost sounds like contractors not caring where they go or what they do, and a discussion with the railroad agent might be a good way to start this adventure. But, I know my advice and $5 may not get you a cup of coffee in your part of America.

In the midwest the only mouments I have seen are the ones we have set for property acquisitions.... And I have staked a bridge over both UP and BNSF rails in major metropolitan areas simply because the RR decided they were not going to allow traffic across the line after 100+ years(and you can understand how this implied consent would be different on public or private property)...

If you dont dont think the RR still doeant have power find one of there employees and see how their retirement program works... Or better yet try to tell UP or BNSF they are enchroaching on a property!

When I did work for both BNSF and UP in the 1990's, it seemed that they were always interested in knowing where their ROW lines were located to prevent such incidents. This might be a case where it simply needs to be pointed out instead of jumping to a conclusion that the railroad is doing it on purpose or with malice intent. It would be interesting to know if the survey monuments were clearly marked. This is a great example of why landowners not only need to place protective posts near the monuments to protect them, but also bring attention to those who are not familiar with the boundary lines.

even though total of 3 modern surveys show that fence does not conform to legal description?

I hear things like this and take them with a grain of salt; what usually turns out is that the guys buddies grandson, that worked on a survey crew last summer, came out 3 times and told him what he wanted to hear...

If 3 different licensed surveys all agreed; and were willing to stand behind their work; and that the railroad is willfully and maliciously destroying this guys property; then he wouldn't need to be crying about it on a public forum. There is obviously more to the story...

RADAR, post: 386187, member: 413 wrote: There is obviously more to the story...

I keep wondering if a lot of these quagmires aren't a result of those free real estate seminars. It couldn't have been two years after the '08 crisis, that the house flipping shows made their return to the cable shows. I'm just the field crew, I don't know much.