Never really followed dogman stuff that closely but this caught my eye because yeah - the railroad connection keeps coming up when I go back through old reports. Saw something similar with a load of Welsh sightings a few years back, lot of them clustered along old mining tramways which are basically the same thing.
My mate thinks its just because the lines create natural corridors through dense woodland so any large animal would use them. Which is probably the boring explanation tbh. But the fact that these lines are often abandoned and cut through really isolated terrain does make you wonder if something is using them to move around without being seen.
Anyone actually mapped this out properly? Like plotted known sightings against old rail infrastructure on a map? Would love to see the data if someone has done the work.