MAC URISA 2016

Railroad corridors may show up on tax maps in places where there seems to be no physical railroad presence. In other places the corridors are depicted with information that is difficult to understand or is outdated. We will discuss how railroads acquired rights in land and how that affects what records we may or may not find. We will also see how railroad rights can be extinguished, what records may or may not exist relating to this state of affairs, and why current tax maps may not be so current. Items covered will include: How railroads have acquired rights in land to build corridors, and what those rights may be (fee, qualified fee with reversionary rights, easements, leasehold); How railroad corridors cease to be railroad corridors; The presence (and absence) of railroad records – for location, ownership, configuration of railroad interests; The corridor Class shown on NJ tax maps (and the difference between “Class” and “Classification”)