Establishing Trails On Rights-of-Way

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", February 1974, page 3

(copied from Sports Afield)

A new publication by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Outdoor Recreation lists, by state, over 450 railroad rights-of-way abandoned between 1960 and 1970, and criteria for evaluating their recreational potential. BOR prepared the booklet to encourage the use of rights-of-way as recreational trails - one of the intents of the 1968 National Trails System Act.

The list of rights-of way was compiled from authorizations granted to railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission to abandon certain rail segments. Included in the list is the county where the right-of-way is located, the length of the abandoned segment, the railroad company that abandoned the tract and the year that it did so. "Establishing Trails on Rights-of-Way" is available for $1 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, stock number 2416-00052.