Railway Boundaries

General

There will be instances when an application is received to register a cadastral unit that adjoins railway property. Often, the fence erected by the railway company is built inside the legal extent of the railway property, rather than on the boundary itself. This allows the railway company to have full access to the fence for maintenance and repair. When this is the case, the deeds for the railway property itself and for those properties that adjoin the railway property will normally contain a boundary declaration. A boundary declaration is a statement contained in a deed that gives a precise description of the position of the legal boundary line in relation to adjoining physical features.

Non metric measurements

Please note, since 1995 when the Units of Measurement Directive came into effect, Registers of Scotland (RoS) has been required to use metric units in all new measurements made or adopted by RoS as indicators of extent on the cadastral map or in connection with descriptions of subjects. Any non-metric measurements used in existing title sheets do not need to be converted unless there is a change to that measurement, and any non-metric measurements contained in existing recorded sasine writs do not need to be converted when used in burdens section entries of a title sheet. However, on first registration of a specific boundary reference such as a railway boundary, the note added to the property section of the title sheet should contain a metric equivalent of any non-metric measurement.

Current practice

Where the boundary declaration states that the legal boundary line lies a fixed distance from a specified boundary feature, consideration needs to be given as to how this should be incorporated into the title sheet. It is no longer the practice to label or letter these boundaries on the cadastral map; instead the detail relating to these boundaries is either (1) included in a property section note (simple boundaries), or (2) the deed describing the boundaries is incoporated into the title sheet by reference to the deed in the archive record (complex boundaries).

Plans officer

Consideration should be given as to whether it is practicable to plot the line of the legal boundary in relation to the specified physical feature on the cadastral map, or whether the boundary should be mapped to coincide with the physical feature. The usual distance quoted in such boundary declarations is 1' 6" (0.45m). Even in areas where the base scale of the OS map is 1:1,250, this distance would result in too narrow a gap to be clearly seen on the cadastral map. Plotting of the legal boundary line in connection with a railway boundary should only be considered if the boundary declaration quotes a distance of 1m or more on a 1:1,250 scale map, or 2m or more on a 1:2,500 base scale map.

Examples of mapping decisions

boundary declaration	base scale of OS map	mapping action
"...taken along a line parallel to and 1'6" westwards from an existing fence..."	1:1,250, 1:2,500 & 1:10,000	Accept the defined feature on the OS map.
"...lies 5' to the north of and parallel to the fence enclosing the said railway line...."	1:1,250	Plot the legal boundary on the cadastral map 5 feet (1.52m) to the north of the fence shown on the OS map.
"...lies 5' to the north of and parallel to the fence enclosing the said railway line...."	1:2,500 & 1:10,000	Accept the defined feature on the OS map.

When mapping railway property, or land adjoining railway property, the plans officer should always check the title sheet and LRS property section notes of any registered titles affected by the possible railway boundary to see if there are any existing railway boundary notes. This is done to ensure that no competing titles are created for the narrow strip of land between the physical fence and the legal boundary line. Refer to a referral officer if there is a possibility of a competition in title to that strip of land.

If the physical boundary feature shown on the OS map does not appear to be the same as the feature referred to in the deed (for instance, the original fence seems to have been re-positioned since the deed plan was drawn up), refer the application to a referral officer for consideration.

Simple boundary scenario (for example, where there is only one north boundary, and the whole length of that boundary bounds the railway, or where all boundaries in the title that bound a railway are described in exactly the same way):
- Add a property section note to the title sheet "The north boundary of this cadastral unit is 0.45m (1'6") from the outer face of the railway fence." or "The boundaries of this cadastral unit abutting the railway are 1.52m (5') from the outer face of the railway fence."
- Add an LRS Title Note drawing the legal settler's attention to the action you have taken "The north boundary of this cadastral unit is a railway boundary. A note has been added to the property section giving details of this boundary."

Complex boundary scenario (for example, where the cadastral unit has several north boundaries, and only one of those bounds the railway):
- Add an LRS Title Note drawing the legal settler's attention to the existence of railway boundaries in the relevant deed in the application. "Deed x contains information relating to railway boundaries that affect this cadastral unit. Please incorporate into the archive record."

Legal officer

When the plans officer advises that a deed contains information relating to railway boundaries (the complex scenario, above), the legal officer will add an appropriate note to the title sheet. See Property Section Information - Railway Boundary Notes for details.