Cornbuy, I have to admit that, as I was scrolling down and reading the various posts, yours sounded sarcastic. I now know you had no such intention. Still, the published word here is devoid of any other information except that they suggest sometimes more than what they are meant to…or less. We each have our own biases that induce us to read certain configurations of words and take them as meaning, or inferring, A, B, or C, etc… It is a risk we all take when we post on these forums.
I hope you won’t feel bad about this incident. I have had to scramble a few times myself to clear up an unintended meaning. It happens to the best of us. [:)]
To respond to you, the roadway is public access, or an easement, or a right of way in a manner of speaking. If you cross at these places, you are well within your rights. It is when crossing at other places where there is no provision for passage that it becomes trespass. In that respect, it was a perfectly legitimate question from someone who wished to know the answer.
Perfect Crandell, thank you. With my original question to Scot I guess I was really just wondering about the legality of putting coins on the tracks in these locations where it is legal to cross. Because at this location you are not violating any trespassing laws. Suppose I’m crossing the tracks and I drop something that lands on a rail. Am I obligated to pick it up?
Note: if this is a dumb question, let me know and I’ll stop here. It really is interesting to me though, because I have always wanted to try this–obviously not with a train barreling down on me like the goober in the story.
Is there a definitive source for railroad law? What civilians can and can’t do around tracks. For example, I pass a place on my way home with a sailboat on a trailer parked extremely close (in my opinion) to the tracks. How can I find out if the boat is legally parked?
My first caveat would be that it’s none of your business, but that comes off sounding kind of harsh. Nonetheless, the enforcement of property lines isn’t something you need to worry about unless it’s your property someone is encroaching upon.
If the sailboat is too close physically, it’ll get hit. If it’s too close (ie, on their property), but not close enough to get clipped, I’m sure that crews or MOW will report it up the chain and the railroad will be in contact with the property owner or the authorities to get it moved.
For your own curiousity, you could check with the real property folks at your local government. I can pull down property tax maps for my property right off the web - you may be able to do the same. That would be my approach if it’s available. I wouldn’t recommend wandering around the property looking for survey markers, but you might at least get a rough idea of what the property lines are and whether or not the boat is actually on RR property.
Hehe, y’all are tough on this forum! Its actually my Dad’s property and his boat. And, it was just an example. I thought I was making it clear that I was wondering if there was a place where railroad law concerning civilians–such as putting coins on the tracks or parking things close to the tracks. I think I’ll just call it quits here, lol. Life is too short.
Really, though, I don’t think there is a specific body of law regarding the general interaction of civilians with the railroad. Trespassing is trespassing whether you’re taking a shortcut across the tracks or through my back yard. Being on the tracks might get you hit. Being in my back yard might get you bit. Either case could get you arrested.
I’m sure there are some special railroad considerations regarding property transactions/rights/etc, but for the purposes of this discussion, I’d say not.
Don’t run off. There’s almost always something of interest to talk about here.
Stick around Cornboy - if you get an answer from Tree and/or Selector among others, you have a good source of information. And they aren’t a tough crowd at all - just very knowledgeable!
And ROW for railroad will be at least 10 feet on both sides and no matter where you put the coin, it is illegal to deface it.
The boat - well - figure out how much room a string of derailed train cars would take up and then park it another 50 feet back! [^]
Again, it is NOT illegal to deface US currency. It does not become illegal unless you are defacing the currency with fraudulent intent. That is how all of those souvenir penny machines are allowed to operate.
Thanks, you’ve just answered a long time question for me.
Referring to the boat issue, or just things being parked too close to the tracks, I recently was coming back from Cresson, PA with some friends and we stopped to chase the Nittany & Bald Eagle which was running through a town we went to. The train disappeared around a curve and we followed. What we came to on the other side was quite a scene, a pickup parked right by the curve got its back end caught on the cars and literally torn off. Quite the spectacle. We left after a few pics, leaving the railroad, truck owner and local police to straighten out the mess.
This is a old pastime, I was searching around a old train station foundation with a metal detector and found a smashed coin, in the same area the newest coin I found was a 1941 quarter and the oldest a 1923 dime. The tracks and station are long gone so trespassing and safety was not a problem.
I hate to admit, but a friend and I used to occasionally put a little more than coins on the tracks. When a train actually stopped to remove an item once we were done being stupid. It was more of a fascination with the absolute power a train has than the stuff getting destroyed, but I look back now and realize we should never have done it at all. Thankfully it wasn’t too often and we usually just watched from a safe distance.
Me thinks you’re taking this a little too seriously. For the most part, 99% of the posters on this forum are vary nice people. The other 1 % I’m afraid, usually show their colors to everyone. The difficult part, is showing what you mean, when you type something. Many times, I’m sure people read something I’ve written and think “What the heck does that mean?” In my case, I’d rather someone asked what I meant, instead of taking it the wrong way.
As far as I can tell, 99% of us are here to have fun, and learn things. The other 1%…well, they know who they are.[;)]
At the risk of causing more confusion, spitting into the wind and ticking off the pope. People can and will correct me if I’m wrong but this is going to be a general paraphrase of the rules as I understand them (I’m not an expert or an authority).
Do not interfere with the safe operation of a railroad! It is a federal offence.
Or: a pedestrian (unauthorized personnel) isn’t trespassing on RR property if they are using a public right of way RR crossing in a safe and correct manner. Any other use (such as loitering or standing between the tracks and cross bucks when a train is coming/present or when the safety appliances of the crossing are activated) of public RR crossing my be an unsafe and/or criminal offence.
You may not want to rely on my words so to be safer and not be at risk of prosecution so check your local laws on such activities and don’t do anything stupid.
Can’t speak to whether its “illegal” but definitely ill-advised. The Operation Lifesaver folks warn people to not put anything on the track, even small things like coins. There is always the risk that the coin could ricochet off the rail and hit someone, rather than just getting flattened.
I have posted this before. The tourist train in Eureka Springs AR encourages tourists to put coins on the rails while the engine goes through the wye. We stand waaaay back & the engine goes slow. Very safe under those conditions.
Grady my boy Davenport has more than two viliage idiots. Thats why God created the Mississippi River to keep them from wandering into Illinois.However they figured out how to build bridges but not drive across them safely lol.
I actually miss Iowa now that I am in Denver but I will be back and hating it once again lol.
Corn the ES&NA is a great place. I was born over in W Plains Mo and lived in Hardy Ar for a time.I loved going over to Eureka and riding the train.