Barney v. Burlington Northern Railroad

JUDITH MEIERHENRY, Circuit Judge.

Landowners seek to quiet title to a railroad right-of-way running across their lands from Custer to Deadwood, South Dakota. The State of South Dakota (State) claims it is entitled to the right-of-way. The landowners claim that the State’s conversion of the right-of-way into recreational trails is a taking of their reversionary interests deserving of compensation from the State.

FACTS

Congress under the provisions of the General Right-of-Way Act of 1875, 43 U.S.C. § 934, 1 granted right-of-way corridors across public lands to the Grand Island and Wyoming Central;…