[agracier]

Just wondering if there is any way of writing a utility that would remove objects from roads and rail lines? That would be a real time saver when populating maps manually.

Inside the map editor FMB,you can clear objects off of roads by using the tools supplied in the FMB Map Editor mode.
Under "File" while in MapEditor FMB, there is "Clear roads" and "Clear water",it will clean objects from the roads and rivers from after auto-popping a map.
Easy

My goodness ... all that time it was in the map maker itself ... watch me kicking myself in anatomically unreachable places ... ha ha

Many thanks for this. You have no idea how much work this will save me in the future ...

I thought that command meant the map maker would 'remove' roads ... as in 'clear things off the table' and so on ... of course being adventuresome me, I never thought to try out the command on a useless map ...

Thanks again, pointing out the obvious to me is often a necessity ... ha ha.