Each time I ride a train, I take notice of the track-side junk especially prevalent on commuter railroads. In fact, I cannot remember ever seeing a railroad without track-side junk including newspapers, old ties, rails, 55 gallon drums, derelict vehicles, telegraph poles, abandoned switch towers, etc.
Lets see your track-side junk and debris.
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I know what you mean about the prevalence of junk and debris around RR right of ways. This clutter is what adds character to a scene. I remember walking the tracks as a teenager and seeing all sorts of broken brake hoses, coupler knuckles, tie plates, spikes and other junk. This is not to mention all of the stuff that fell off the trains as they passed. There were also broken tree limbs and pieces of cardboard laying in the brush close to the roadbed. I have tried to add some of this clutter to a few of my scenes.
An abandoned tractor sits in the brush with a tree growing up through the wheels.
Despite the "NO DUMPING" sign, this seems to be a popular place to discard unwanted appliances and other refuse.
The chain link fence in this industrial area is a catch-all for debris blowing across the parking lot. The bent fence and the broken top bar (Behind the truck cab) were modeled this way.
Tom
You must be talkin about your trips between Floral Park and Jamaica.
There at least was (may still be there) an old Jet ski dumped on the side of the Montauk Branch Long Island Rail Road tracks somewhere between Hampton Bays and Southampton. It was there for years and years. Always wondered how it wound up there as it was a reasonably isolated stretch of track and no way it floated up there. Wonder if it is still there.......
Can't locate a recent pic.....but you can see the bathroom fixtures and the table/chairs left trackside....someday, I will add a ringer washing machine!
Peter
Didn't realize how much junk I had until I started looking through my pictures!
Here's some 2-rail O scale junk. 
Jim
Here's our trackside junk.
Here's a area that could use some junk.
And here's some future trackside junk.
Great topic!!
Mike, you are right re Floral Park to Jamaica up until 1965. Then I got married and moved to Port Washington, so it became Woodside to Port Washington. After that I moved to Huntington and eventually to Setauket, so now I travel from Stony Brook or Ronkonkoma and the junk is just as prolific.
For the ultra-realist, don't forget:
(sorry )
This is a good reason not to pick blueberrys from the side of the tracks.
Here's a real piece a junk from from the 611 run into Petersburg this past June....
Peter
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