A railroad company, domestic or foreign, or municipal corporation which owns or operates a railroad may enter upon any land for the purpose of examining and surveying its railroad line, and may appropriate so much of such land as is necessary for its railroad including necessary sidetracks, depots, workshops, roundhouses, and water-stations, material for construction, except timber, a right of way over adjacent lands sufficient to enable it to construct and repair its road, and the right to conduct water by aqueducts and to make proper drains.