[Talk-us] bike rail trail as built vs as proposed and imported

[Stefan Bethke]

Am 20.07.2009 um 21:25 schrieb Alex Mauer:

> Greg Troxel wrote:
>> Someone said railway=abandoned, but there are three separate things  
>> --
>> my opinion is partly from USGS topo maps:
>>
>> * out of service (disused=yes above)
>>   [tracks present, no trains, but not abandoned]
>>
>> * abandoned (this is a legal distinction in the US)
>>
>> * old railroad grade (beyond abandoned, where there are no longer  
>> tracks)
>
> What's the difference between "out of service" and "abandoned"?  I
> assume the distinction is in how often the railway is used.  I know of
> some rail lines near me that are classified in the TIGER import as
> abandoned (not even out-of-service) , but which still have trains  
> run on
> them occasionally (or even fairly often)

The distinction, I believe, applies mostly to the legal status; if  
that way falls under railway regulations, but is (seldomly) used, it  
might be out of service.  This usually includes upkeep of the  
infrastructure to a certain degree, and running trains requires little  
to no preparation to the track.

When abandoned, some infrastructure might remain, but railway  
regulations do no longer apply to the right of way, and running a  
train (with any kind of service, i. e. more than just you playing on  
your own private property) is not easily possible.

When abandoned, track, sleepers, ballast and other infrastructure  
might very well be removed, as they're worth money.

In your example, if there are trains still running on these tracks,  
they are likely not abandoned, and the TIGER data is probably wrong.


HTH,
STefan

-- 
Stefan Bethke <stb at lassitu.de>   Fon +49 151 14070811