Got yet another one for my Forum friends. Is there a hard and fast rule about how far plants and such are from trackage? On my layout I have a park that is on the other side of a river from an industrial facility. I had the thought to put some trees on the opposite bank of the park as a somewhat view and sound block. (There is a boat ramp/fishing access/swimming and tubing access on the park side.) The only problem is that on one end is a mainline track and in the middle of the riverbank is the end of the spur that serves the industrial facility (a printing plant).
As usual, any suggestions would be most welcomed.
That said as model railroaders, we do employ “scale compression", to varying extents.
https://tc.canada.ca/en/rail-transportation/rules/2011-2012/rules-respecting-track-safety/part-ii-track-safety-rules-subpart-b-roadbed#vegetation
https://www.cpr.ca/en/community/living-near-the-railway/vegetation-management
https://www.customtruck.com/blog/railroad-vegetation-management-a-crucial-clean-up-service-that-keeps-our-train-system-alive/
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I'm not sure who's doing the encroaching here...
...but I have no intention to move either the track or the structure.
Wayne
Although railroads like to have a certain distance either side of the track centerline free of obstructions and vegetation for reasons cited in another reply, a number of factors enter the picture.
What was there first, in the case of man-made structures? There were/are places where a man on the side of a car will not clear an obstruction. These are usually associated with an industrial setting, where a part of a building is close to the track, such as a doorway, part of a building itself, or industrial equipment. A railroad will make a lot of concessions for a traffic generator. Look at coal mines and steel mills and how tight some of the clearances are.
Another case of who was there first is in towns that were established before the railroad came. The railroad wanted to go where the customers were and this meant there were already buildings in place. I remember places in New England where you could lean out of the cab windows and touch people's houses as we rolled past at 10 MPH or less. Not every railroad could afford to knock down every building to give it a 50 or 75 foot wide pathway. Usually clearances this tight were on spurs or branches to a very important traffic sources. There have instances where portions of buildings have been removed to accomodate the railroad. How much depended on the use of the spur and use of the building.
A railroad's financial health may come into play as well. In many jurisdictions, railroads were looked upon as money trees, at tax time. To combat this, the railroads tried to keep their footprint as small as possible, thus lessening to tax bite. Again, the minimum right of way for safety is the goal here. A narrow right of way in the population center where land is expensive, and wider out where land is cheap, relatively speaking.
As far as vegetation, most railroads have aggressive vegitation control programs, for all the reasons cited in another reply, at least along their main routes. On their secondary lines, maybe not as aggressive, as long as it does interfere with operations, or maintenance. Then you have the green tunnels where the only vegetation control is a passing train. Again, vegetation control is directly affected by the fiscal health of the railroad and importance of the line in question.
Trees make excellent view blocks and can come to the edge of a cut or embankment. There are railroads where park boundries come right up to the edge of the ROW. At one time the Boston and Maine had a branch line that crossed fairways on a golf course, and the New Haven had a spur that crossed a runway at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station in Massachusetts. How was that ROW agreement negotiated?
Railroads have a right of way width they woud LIKE to maintain, but will make almost any accomodation to generate revenue or reduce taxation. On a model railroad space is priceless, spend it wisely. Think like the prototype and do only that necessary to maximize profit in all aspects of your operations
Check out Chamber's Bay Golf Course in Washington state. UP trains run right up the edge of the golf course. Or, Carnoustie in Scotland.
Rich
Alton Junction
Norfolk Southern in Mooresville NC
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
DSchmitt
Seeing this one in particular makes me think that I can basically do almost anything I want. GIven that the area in question is coming into/out of a railyard where the mainline is also part of the yard limits, the trains wouldn't be going at great speed anyway. Just gotta make sure that the trees won't scratch the "varnish" and I think everyone will be happy.
It depends a little on timeframe for your layout too. Railroads from what I've seen were more aggressive in the past about keeping vegetation back from the tracks a good distance; in recent decades it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal for them. Some folks have speculated that severe weather affects railroads now more than in the past, because now trees are so close to the mainline that if one falls they can fall on the tracks. In the past the trees would have been kept farther back.
This reminds me of the time maybe 20-30 years ago here in Minnesota where a town built a big flower garden next to a municipal building. Unfortunately, the garden was between the city's building and a railroad line, and when the railroad ran a weed spraying train the garden was destroyed. The city complained, but the railroad pointed out that the city garden had been on the railroad's property.