Milw-E74 Wrote:
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> Matt
> I was wondering the same thing, after seeing
> several pictures of homes build directly on the
> Milwaukee right of way, When the railroad leaves
> is it a free for all?


Things are a lot more complicated than this, but in a nutshell, what happens to a RR ROW after the tracks are removed depends on the process by which the railroad has given up the claim to that ROW. This can be either abandonment, or rail banking.

Abandonment is just that, the railroad gives up any and all claims to the ROW. In this case, the land reverts to the adjacent or original land owner. In the case of the Milwaukee Road, large portions of it were built on easements that were granted by the US forest service. That is to say, the MILW never actually owned the land its tracks were on, the forest service did, but legally the Milwaukee had the right to place its tracks on the land and use that land as if it were owned by the MILW. Once the MILW closed up shop on Lines West, the land reverted back to the forest service, who has then gone on to sell or lease that land to private owners who have built their homes and such on it.

Rail banking or rails to trails, is different. (and again, VERY legally complicated). This is where the RR gives up its claim to the ROW but that ROW is “preserved” for future possible railroad use. In the meantime, that ROW can be used for other purposes, usually a trail road or other public use (in some cases, this other use is for a railroad museum or similar, this is how the Western Railroad Museum and Niles Canyon came to have their routes). In this case the land goes to a government agency that oversees its use. I laugh at the term preserve since often so many changes occur that would prevent tracks from being laid down, such as encroachment from buildings too close and overpasses too low over and next to the trail, as well as the loss of land connecting the trail to active rail. And you know the public would get enraged at having their trail take over by a railroad. What good is preserving hundreds of miles in the scenic open countryside if you can’t preserve the couple of miles of urban corridor that is needed to connect that route to active rail? But the intent at least is good.
Matt F
Moscow Idaho