Dorothy Trevarton v. State of South Dakota

LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

- Plaintiffs are ranchers in,. Fall River County, South Dakota, who own properties underlying and surrounding a railway right-of-way easement granted by the United States to Grand Island and Wyoming Central Railroad Company in 1897. Burlington Northern Railroad Company (“BN”) subsequently acquired the easement but ceased railroad operations on the line in 1986. In 1987, BN applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission, now the Surface Transportation Board (“STB”), 1 for an exemption permitting expeditious abandonment of the line. See 49 U.S.C. § 10903 (requirements to…