GREENSBORO — A crane parked on an auto salvage lot near Gibsonville recently was angled so its lengthy boom extended over the edge of the nearby railroad tracks.

The state-owned N. C. Railroad Co., which owns the tracks, notified Norfolk Southern Railroad, which leases the line to run freight trains. The boom was moved.

Such intrusions have led to a campaign by the railroad to assert control of a claimed 200-foot right of way — 100 feet on each side of the tracks from Morehead City to Charlotte, and through Greensboro.

The push has track side property owners in Guilford County howling mad, talking of lawsuits and holding protest meetings. The next is scheduled for Oct. 17.

They’re angry over a demand from the railroad that they pay a leasing fee for structures in the right of way and possibly to buy insurance to protect the right of way.

The owners challenge whether the railroad’s corridor amounts to 200 feet. Some have deeds showing 50 or 35 feet on either side. Many owners also say they pay property taxes on land in the right of way.

Railroad President Scott Saylor, of Raleigh, shows an 1852 map of a section of the railroad through Guilford County. The corridor clearly shows a 100-foot right of way on each side of the tracks.

Saylor cites words in the 1849 charter creating the N.C. Railroad Co., which opened in 1856 after a politician drove the last spike near the South Elm Street crossing in Greensboro. The charter says a right of way of 100 feet extends from the center of the tracks. Saylor says that means both sides.

Saylor says people along the tracks may indeed be paying property taxes on land they don’t own. Their beef, he says, is with the tax department.

Francis Kinlaw, interim director of the Guilford County tax department, says it would have to be a case-by-case situation. He says the department bases taxes on deeds and plats that attorneys file with the register of deeds.

As the N.C. Railroad’s tenant, Norfolk Southern paid property taxes while controlling the right of way. Kinlaw says his staff on Tuesday found instances of Norfolk Southern and private property owners paying taxes on the same land. Other times, one or the other paid. In some cases, no one paid because of deed confusion.

While the Raleigh-to-Greensboro line handles about four to six freight trains a day and the Greensboro-to-Charlotte section 50 freights, Saylor sees more than freight ahead.

He foresees more Amtrak passenger trains, a regional computer rail system and a high-speed rail line from Washington to Charlotte. These could mean an additional six sets of tracks in the corridor, needing most of the space in the right of way.

For now, nonrailroad structures can remain, but the N.C. Railroad expects to be paid for use of its land and says users may need to buy insurance.

The state-owned railroad operated its own trains until the 1890s. It then leased for 99 years the tracks and right of way to what’s now Norfolk Southern. Property owners along the line say Norfolk Southern was lenient about structures in the unused right of way.

No more. In 2000, the N.C. Railroad and Norfolk Southern signed a new lease. Norfolk Southern got continued track use, but the N.C. Railroad regained right of way control.

In Guilford and several other counties, Saylor concedes that property owners have deeds showing smaller rights of way. He blames private surveyors who assumed the right of way was like most other railroads — 35, 50 or 80 feet.

Saylor says the railroad is trying to be reasonable. It wants those using the right of way to sign an agreement "so that their rights are clear and our rights are clear."

For more than a half acre, a formula would require 10-percent of half of the land’s appraised tax value. If that were $300,000, the railroad would be owed 10 percent of $150,000 or $1,500.

These fees shouldn’t close any businesses, Saylor says. "I hope there is no business whose existence depends on their having use of our corridor, " he said.

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