More forbidden stories

Okay, so one of the really cool things I get to do a lot is hang out with some of the signals department as a certain orange-and-black railroad around here. And between us, and one other photo-history geek, we often go in search of old rights-of-way and artifacts. Lunchtime excursions have recently included:

Locating one mile of 1870's narrow gauge right-of-way that is visibly intact, and yet had escaped researchers knowledge for a century.

The right-of-way of an 1870's standard gauge line that later became an interurban and was ripped up in the 1930's.

The location of two electric interurban shops facilities, both of which had been in dispute for generations.

Signage from an old BN branch that is now a transit line.

A stick of narrow gauge 28 pound rail.

I can't describe how fun these excursions can be. For one, we're solving mysteries of local rail history that have stood for generations, by taking research out of the dusty boxes of historical societies and applying it in the field. We've found things -- like the narrow gauge rail -- that no one would have believed possible. It's almost like Indiana Jones meets railroading; ferroequinearcheaology. It would be so cool to write about it.

But!

Yes, there's a but. All this stuff, it's either abandoned, or neglected, or being vandalized. When we remove it, nobody complains, because nobody cares. In one instance, I took home a whistlepost that had been out of service for ten years, and was on public property; the government's landscape crews had broken it off and tossed it in the ditch because it was in the way of their blackberry thinning. But I know the instant I write about it, the sticky issue of ownership would come up. I'd be blasted by idealists who think these things should stay in thee field where they were found as cultural artifacts, despite the fact they'd be destroyed if they were left. And the private property/trespassing Nazis would nail us for taking things on private property. I could be accused of theft and many other charges.

So, one of the coolest stories, and some of the biggest discoveries in local rail history in my lifetime sit under a bushel, known only to the few who did the discovering. While I intend on documenting these things for the future, sadly, I think that's as far as I'll be able to go. Perhaps this is another candidate for the cold storage file, where I will deposit it alongside stories like the runaway on POTB; stories too hot to print in the media market right now.