I was thinking along the same lines as Dragonman in the final days as the NWP was being sold to the Golden Gate Bridge district. I sat down with the general manager of the bridge dist. and pointed out the poor condition of the RR and suggested they take a closer look at the property before paying the asking price. I was told that is was the land they where buying not the railroad .The land was sold on a "per square foot" formula that equated to lower than market price for surrounding land values . Both SP & UP have been dealing with land issues since their inception and they won't be trifled with.. SP Electric explains it best and you should better understand it after reading his post.. Still if you where to create new ROW like the HSR in California proposes , you will see where current costs makes old ROW between point A and point B almost priceless.