Found My First Benchmarks

[+phayzer5]

Monday night I stopped by to check these 3 marks. They were right along my route home from work so they weren't too difficult to find The latter two note that the altitude has been adjusted. Would this mean that I can count on the stated elevation to calibrate the altimiter on my eX 600 vs. the gps observed altitude of the first mark??

 

AR1895

AB5084

AB5083

 

 

I'd also like to start recovering more of the marks in my home area. There arent too many local people that have checked them so I'd like to volunteer myself I noted that many of them are along an abandoned railroad that used to run through the county, but the rails are long gone by about 40 years. As long as the rail beds havent been washed away and I can find a close enough access point, I should be able to just go hiking along to check them all? I may goto the local library to view some older maps and research the history of the rail. My brother thinks I'm crazy for wanting to spend my free time searching for all these tiny brass discs

[Photobuff]

Yeah, that's how I got hooked- "Gee, these marks are right around here, let's see if I can find 'em." Warning- the addiction can be incurable! Now, my luck with disks around railroad tracks has been awful- if the railroad tracks have been removed. If the tracks are still there, chances are far better, but you have to worry about trespassing on rail property. See other threads on that. Around here, almost all the rail lines have been taken up, and the right-of-way has been purchased by a local hiking trail group. I've had excellent luck with "copper bolt" marks, as they're usually in stone drain culverts. The ones around here are at least 100 years old, and maybe closer to 150.

 

Adjusted numbers will be dead on- you can check your GPS against 'em. Scaled numbers can be several hundred feet off, or more. Or less. Use scaled locations to get to the general area, then go by the verbal description. Didn't check where you are, but I use the historical map section of Maptech for old maps. Get a copy of USAphotomaps and use that in conjunction with the MS Terraserver for aerial photos. If your state has aerial photos online, those may be better quality. Here, we have the NYS Mapping Gateway. I often look at the intersection of road and rail on the aerials, and measure the angle. I then make a CAD drawing using that and the verbal description. You can also do it on plain old graph paper. What that does is allow me to measure from things that still exist, rather than things that may be long gone. Say, if the measurements are from the center of the crossing, I convert them to measurements perpendicular to the road. Not once has this elaborate technique led me to a benchmark

 

Useful things to know- the standard rail gage is 4' 8.5" rail-to-rail. Useful because distances are sometimes from center, but sometimes from nearest rail. I convert dimensions to center, because I can better estimate where that might have been. I think R/W fence is a right-of-way fence. Thus it would have been parallel to the rails. Check the thread on what people carry around for their "kit". Also, the database here is a few years out of date. Always go to the NGS site and download a fresh datasheet before looking for something.

 

When I have questions, and that's been a lot, the people here are unbelievably helpful to me!

[+ShadowAce]

. As long as the rail beds havent been washed away and I can find a close enough access point, I should be able to just go hiking along to check them all?

Florida Department of Transportation

 

The laws against disobeying railroad traffic control signals as well as the laws pertaining to pedestrians trespassing on railroad rights of way will be strictly enforced.  Safety is the bottom line.  Lives can be saved.”

 

Federal highway administration Rails with Trails article.

 

Norfolk Southern Trespassing

 

Basically I am trying to say that even though the railway may no longer be present, the land is still owned in many cases by the railway company. As such they can charge you with Federal Trespassing if they do not want you walking the area. My son and I were walking an abandoned railway (I know it is abandoned because of the missing rails) when we were approached by a sheriff. When we explained we were looking for Benchmarks and just enjoying the history of the area, we were politly told to leave. I did not question his authority, instead I thanked him for letting us know we were not supposed to be here and we left cross country as I felt walking back down the railway in front of him would not be a good idea.

 

I think you would do best to find out from your local authorities if they still impose the no trespassing rules for the abandoned railway area in question. Across the nation they have rails-to-trails programs, but all of these are done with a great deal of legal work before they open it up to walkers.

 

Just a piece of friendly advice

[+BuckBrooke]

phayzer,

Welcome to the addiction! You have a goodly number of virgin PIDs nearby you, lucky dog. Congratulations, you're the first person I've found to take a photo of a City of Ocala mark (I think I read Ocala, it's a little tough).

 

With your logs, it's generally helpful to supply at least two photos to help the next person along.

 

One photo is like what you have, a closeup of the disk, and more perpendicular (above the disk) so that you can clearly see what it says, the agency marking, etc. The GPS unit gets in the way; no great need to have it in the pic. Your photo for AR1895 is the best of your three, although the clearer you can read the disk (especially the disk stamping BK22 RESET) in the photo the better. I take the photo a little closer (perhaps too close, with my camera about a foot from the disk). In the Ocala case, it might be good for the next one to get it a little clearer.

 

The second photo is designed to guide someone into the station. It should be eye level, and generally about 10-20 feet away, looking over or towards the station. This is useful to show where a disk is on a building, in a rock outcrop or culvert and to show nearby features around the station mentioned in the to-reach description. For example, you might take a photo of AR1895 that clearly shows the concrete monument in the bottom/corner of the shot, but also includes the edge of the highway and the telephone pole. Some people will draw in a circle or an arrow to point out where the disk is in the picture.

 

A third photo which the NGS likes, but isn't necessary is a photo in distance between your two photos on AR1895, showing the setting and very nearby area of the mark.

Edited February 1, 2006 by BuckBrooke

[mloser]

On the other hand, there is often some sort of reversion clause in railroad right of way deeds where the property reverts to adjacent owners or the local municipality after a certain amount of time. In that case your trespassing is not federal but only local in nature!

 

When I have asked people in my area about the ownership of the old ROWs they usually have no real idea. They say that they think they reverted to local ownership but are not sure, or they think they belong to the township but are not sure, so it is pretty obvious that when walking along them there is little chance of anyone knowing whose property you are trespassing on, or what to do about it. I even drove along one after the adjacent property owner told me you could still drive along it for miles, and he said this in a way that told me that people often do just that.

 

If the old right of way is still owned by the railroad there is a near zero chance that any railroad police will happen along. They are too busy patrolling the active rights of way and can't be bothered with property that is not used.

 

Norfolk Southern is known as having one of the toughest railroad police forces in existence, and will run you off or cite you without hesitation. They do not tolerate trespassing at all. As a federally recognized police force they DO have the authority to cite or even jail you. All major railroads' forces can do that. Don't think of them as mall rent-a-cops. Your chances of talking your way out of something with them is probably less than with any other police force. One of the reasons is that railroad trespassing is much more dangerous than normal trespassing--unwary trespassers tend to get hit by trains, and the railroads want to protect the public and themselves from such events.

 

The only way to be sure, as ShadowAce mentioned, is to contact local authorities about the property. Your alternative is to trespass, either on railroad or private property. In the end it is up to each person about how they want to approach marks on any type of private property. I have hunted marks along active tracks (yep, the Norfolk Southern), abandoned rights of way, and rail trails.

 

The subject of trespassing comes up here every couple of weeks and usually raises strong opinions, mine included. It comes down to making an informed decision on how you want to approach it.

 

ShadowAce, did the sheriff tell you it was railroad property? I am just curious what prompted police to be along an abandoned right of way. Perhaps it is a known party location and they patrol it from time to time to clear out the riff raff?

 

Edited to ask ShadowAce a question.

Edited February 1, 2006 by mloser