Really interesting pattern you've flagged here - I hadn't connected those dots before but now I'm thinking about it differently.
We've got some old disused railway lines cutting through Wiltshire not far from me, and there have been odd reports locally over the years. Nothing I'd specifically labelled as Dogman, more your classic ". Large, dark figure moving strangely". Type accounts. But the railway corridor angle is genuinely intriguing.
A few questions that immediately spring to mind:
Are we talking active lines, disused ones, or both?, Do the sightings cluster near tunnels or bridges specifically? Those liminal spaces seem to attract something, Could the electromagnetic fields from active rail infrastructure be a factor - perhaps attracting or even creating conditions for these encounters?
I've been reading a lot about how Dogman sightings correlate with certain geographical features - limestone geology, ley lines, water sources - so railway lines as a pattern wouldn't entirely surprise me. Old rail routes often follow natural contours of the land that were significant long before the Victorians came along with their surveying equipment.
Has anyone actually mapped the sightings against historical rail maps? That feels like the kind of spatial analysis that could genuinely reveal something. There are some decent old Ordnance Survey overlays available online that might help.
Would love to hear from anyone in the American Midwest especially - that seems to be the hot zone for Dogman reports generally. Are your sightings clustering near specific types of railway infrastructure?