Dalton Street Railway Co. v. Commonwealth

53 Pa. D. & C. 650, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 317
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County
DecidedAugust 4, 1945
Docketno. 1222
StatusPublished

This text of 53 Pa. D. & C. 650 (Dalton Street Railway Co. v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lackawanna County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dalton Street Railway Co. v. Commonwealth, 53 Pa. D. & C. 650, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 317 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1945).

Opinion

Eagen, J.,

— This is an appeal by plaintiff from a decision of the board of viewers refusing an award. By agreement the issue was tried before the writer without a jury. There are two cases which by agreement were consolidated and tried as one case. Both will be disposed of in this one opinion.

Plaintiff, Dalton Street Railway Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, continuously from the year 1906 until September 20,1932, operated a street railway system from North Main Avenue in the City of Scranton to the town of Factory ville, Wyoming County. On July 18,1932, the City of Scranton contracted with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Secretary of Highways, under the Act of June 22, 1931, P. L. 720, for the reconstruction of West Market Street. It was over West Market Street that this railway system operated in the City of Scranton from the city line down to North Main Avenue. On September 20, 1932, the railway’s operation within the city limits was forcibly prevented by the erection of wooden barricades and the tearing up and removal of the rails by city employes. See Dalton Street Railway Co. v. Scranton, 326 Pa. 6. As a result of this action on the part of the city, plaintiff company ceased to operate its railway at any point from that date on and subsequently (February, 1934) sold its rails and ties which made up the system outside the city limits for junk.

In the years 1936 and 1937 the Commonwealth con- • structed an improved highway from the Scranton City line to the Borough of Clarks Summit and in doing so used a considerable portion of the right of way previ[652]*652ously utilized by plaintiff company in the operation of its railway system. As a result, this action was instituted asking damages from the Commonwealth for the value of the land used. The board of viewers refused an award and this appeal followed.

For the purpose of this opinion, the right of way involved must be divided into two sections: (1) That running from the Scranton City line to the White M. E. Church, North of Chinchilla, in South Abington Township; and, (2) that running from the White Church to the Clarks Summit Borough line. The right to the use of the first section arises out of an agreement (October 13,1906) between the Providence and Abington Turnpike and Plank Road Company, the Northern Boulevard Company, and Northern Electric Street Railway Company granting the latter, its successors and assigns, a right of way in perpetuity for its cars, tracks, ■ poles, etc., over, -along, and across the land involved. Plaintiff company later succeeded to and became vested with the rights of the Northern Electric Company under this contract. The right to the use of the second section described arises out of a grant from the Abington Dairy Company on December 30,1905, providing as follows:

“The free and uninterrupted use, liberty and privilege of and passage in, along and over a certain piece of land or railway bed situated in the Township of South Abington . . . (here follows description of land thirty (30) feet wide by twenty-one hundred (2100) feet long) . . . containing an area of about sixty-three thousand (63,000) square feet of land together with the exclusive right to use and occupy said right of way for so long a time as same shall be used and occupied for a railway.”

A portion of this section of the right of way was owned in fee by plaintiff company but the fee land is not involved herein because the Commonwealth purchased it from plaintiff and paid for it.

[653]*653Since the construction of the new highway in 1936 and 1937 plaintiff company did not make any attempt or request to relocate its track facilities thereon.

We shall first discuss plaintiff’s present rights in regard to the second section of the right of way or that from the White Church to the borough line. In the original grant upon which plaintiff’s rights are based, the use of the land involved was restricted for so long a time as it was occupied as a railway. It is our conclusion from an examination of the deed from the Ab-ington Dairy Company that it was the intent and purpose of the parties thereto to grant the right to use the land for a railway and that when the particular use ended the land was to revert to the grantor. If this is correct, the land reverted and plaintiff lost its interest therein long before the Commonwealth used the land for the construction of the new highway. Plaintiff company clearly abandoned this particular section of the right of way long before the alleged taking.

In Norton v. Duluth Transfer Railway Co. et al., 129 Minn. 126, 151 N. W. 907, the deed in question contained a granting clause of “grant, bargain and sell” to the railroad company, its-successors and assigns, and a habendum clause “to have and to hold the same . . . unto the said party of the second part for and so long as the same shall be used as a right of way for tracks and a railroad way for its cars”, etc. The court said (p. 130) :

“A reading of the same leaves in our minds no fair doubt of the intention of the parties. The land conveyed was taken from a larger tract and was a narrow strip 75 feet wide by about 3,000 in length. The railroad company desired it for a particular purpose, namely, as a right of way, and the grantors were willing to convey for that use. The deed contains no language indicative of an intention that an absolute and unqualified title should pass to the grantee. The significant word, generally found in deeds of real property, [654]*654‘forever’, does not follow the clause ‘to have and to hold the same,’ but instead thereof it reads ‘to have and to hold the same . . . for and so long as the same shall be used as a right of way.’ This language appears in the habendum clause, where usually all limitations upon the estate granted are found, if any be imposed. And no other language or clause is found which in any way impairs or detracts from the clause ‘for and so long as the same shall be used as a right of way.’ The only conclusion, as it seems to us, is that the parties intended by the deed to convey to the company an easement only, and to vest in the company the right to hold and use the land so long as it was devoted to the purpose stated, and no longer.”

See also Reifler & Sons v. The Wayne Storage Water Power Co., 232 Pa. 282, and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. et al. v. Bond et ux., 345 Pa. 360, where the owner of a. farm granted to a railroad company, plaintiff's predecessor, a right of way over his land “for so long as the same shall be required for the use and purpose of the said road” and the railroad later abandoned the right of way so far as an operating railroad was concerned. In that case the court held (p.362) :

“From the foregoing language it is clear, that the intent and purpose of the grant was, that a railroad should be located and operated through the grantor’s land, advantaging his property, and when the railroad ceased to operate, the grant should terminate.”

We conclude, therefore, that plaintiff owned no interest in the land involved in the second section of the right of way at the time the Commonwealth made use thereof.

Now as to the section of the right of way extending from the city line to the White Church, the source of title to this right of way was the Providence and Abington Turnpike and Plank Road Company, incorporated under the Act of April 8,1853, P. L. 343.

A turnpike under the law is a public highway, constructed by virtue of public authority and for public [655]

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53 Pa. D. & C. 650, 1945 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dalton-street-railway-co-v-commonwealth-pactcompllackaw-1945.