This Land is My Land, I have the deed to prove it.

If he dosen't get that land now he may never get it.
It says in first article that he submitted papers to the city that showed his claim of ownership, from which he had no reply. If the city doesn't offically reconize the claim then it's left open for legal battles. If Creede had just accepted his claim, and admit their mistake in not buying the land from UP, then both parties could have come to a mutual agreement. Since he didn't hear back from the city you have to figure one of two things are happening; 1) The city is perfectly fine with it and do what you will. 2) We're not going to accept it and are taking you to court.
In the case of the 2nd senerio he needed to mark off the land, thus bring it to full public attention as to what he's going for, as the first step in his court case. First thing that would come up is weither or not the property is clearly marked or not.
Personally I blame the city council for this whole problem. They should have replied to his claim, even if the responce was, "Give us a moment, we're thinking it over." Instead, they backed him into a corner.
As to the idea of building a station outside of town. How many miles of trackage would he lose doing that? Is there a sutiable location? If he doesn't claim the property now would that mean that he's giving up his rights to it over to the people & city who have build on and use it?
Yes I am rather agressive about this whole thing because I can't help but think of how it is here is California. There is abandond ROWs all over the place. Just in the past few years the Southern Pacific's (UP) "Kentucky House" branch was abandonded and pulled up. This was considered by all the train crews to be the most beautiful and serene stretch of track on the entire SP system. This was the branch that the engineers would transfere to as soon as they had the seniority and then ride out there retirment. There is no chance to restore it as people have already begun to build on the ROW and tear down it's many wooden bridges.
If it wasn't for @#$%& the Nevada County Narrow Gauge could have been rebuilt.
West Side Lumber & Flume Co. property is currently in legal dispute.
The SP's "East Main" which was torn up bit-by-bit over the last 30 years, today would have provided a major commuter train route, and is impossible to rebuild for any reasonable, or unreasonable, price.
I was just planning to give my $0.02, but I gave two bits instead, and got a bit off topic. Sorry about that. " />