Maintaining Right-of-Way

[Fred Morse]

It was brought up in "Dreaming of going South", that maintaining the ROW as we build more tracks North or South that we will have a problem keeping the grass cut. As one of the very few members that cut the grass for 2 and 3/4 miles on both sides of the ROW I see it every year. Some of our ROW have had the trees cut off the full 66 Ft. wide, most of it 50 Ft. wide and some 40 Ft. wide as per the former owners. Starting in July it takes until Nov. to complete it. We did not get it finished last year mostly due to rain. It also takes us away from doing other important things. We now have the Row-Mow 4 Ft. mower which should take care of cutting the ditches. Here are a few ideas.

1. Cut the grass on 1/2 of the ROW one year and the rest the next year.
 
2. Cut less width, maybe 15 or 20 Ft. each side of the center line and let the rest grow up.

3 When we do go North or South cut less width on ROW.

Any more ideas?

[James Patten]

We've recently had this discussion for the Long Range Plan.

How much of the ROW is mowable using a mowing machine of some kind?  If we did some landscaping in judicious places, how much more is mowable?  There will always be spots that can only be done with humans (the steep embankments by the stream beds) but if we could do 70% of it with a machine that would be a huge help.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Any chance that prisoners could be utilized?  They do all sorts of work down here in Mass. They are supervised by police at all times.

[Fred Morse]

I talked to the person who runs the twin county jail in wiscasset, When I told him we had a telephone line along the right of way he thought we might not want them around there.

[John McNamara]

I talked to the person who runs the twin county jail in wiscasset, When I told him we had a telephone line along the right of way he thought we might not want them around there.

Is the problem that they might use the telephone line to order drugs or that they might rip it up and sell the copper?

[Fred Morse]

The wire might walk off.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

I can't believe the work couldn't be supervised well enough to prevent theft of the phone wire.  Enough wire to make it worth taking would be hard to hide when leaving the property, I would think.

[Wayne Laepple]

I know of one museum which was the victim of a substantial burglary perpetrated by a former work-release inmate. The guy apparently "cased the place" while working and knew exactly where the items he wanted to take were located. As for the telephone line along our track, I don't believe there is enough copper there for even the most desperate meth-head to undertake the work necessary to steal it.

[Fred Morse]

That's what we were talking about, caseing the joint. Most of the wire used is electical underground wire lying on the ground. It's very expensive to replace. I know a 1000 Ft. reel of the wire is very heavy. We have 2 and 3/4 miles of it out there.

[Stephen Hussar]

Sheep

[John McNamara]

I know a 1000 Ft. reel of the wire is very heavy.

...and costs about $300. Therefore 2 and 3/4 miles is about $4,356.

[Richard "Steam" Symmes]

Sheep. "Cheep"

[Wayne Laepple]

As scrap, the wire would probably net less than $100. To be recycled, the insulation would have to be removed, and that's more work than removing it. At least around here, the thieves are more interested in copper pipe and downspouts than they are in wire. And a few of them have sustained serious injuries by trying to steal LIVE wires carrying substantial voltage -- upwards of 3,000 volts. ZAP!

[Bill Reidy]

Sheep

Not baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!

[Paul Levesque]

Many ski resorts use sheep as a low intensity method of brush mitigation.

Thieves will take ANY copper they can get.  When dealing with wire they will either scrap it as is with the insulation, toss it in a fire to try and melt the insulation off, or some have bench-top cranks that the wire can be fed into and will split the insulation right off, the price of copper makes every little bit count and when they are working in a location that is unattended they will take meticulously take everything they can get.