John,
I will let someone else weigh in on your question concerning ROW ownership. I think I know the answer, but I'd rather not speculate. Regardless of the ownership, however, the real issue concerning the standdown order as I understood it from the many postings during that time period is the actual source or cause of any wildfire that is started and ultimately crosses into FS land. I.E. any fire that could have its origin traced back to railroad activities (of any kind, please note this) would place the railroad in a position of responsibility (legal and financial) for all damages caused by that action. Pretty sobering when you consider the D&S paid a half million dollars for a fire supposedly set by one of their trains.
This is a complex issue. There are many implications and just as many twists and turns. Could the commission (and ultimately the states as owners) win out over the feds (the FS, the DOJ, etc.)? Perhaps (but most likely not), but at what monetary cost? The litigation fees would wipe out what little money the railroad had, sour the states on the whole mess and who knows were it all would all end up?
Listening to the national news this last weekend, the state of Colorado is making noises about going after the FS and ultimately the fed govt to pay for cost of the damage caused by the Colorado fires around Denver last year that were set by a FS employee. The outcome could be very interesting. I don't have a personal opinion on all this, but I do hope that the C&TS dosen't have to face the same scenario again this summer, but at this point it ain't looking too good.
