North Carolina Corp. Commission v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co.
| Decision Date | 13 December 1904 |
| Citation | 49 S.E. 191,137 N.C. 1 |
| Parties | NORTH CAROLINA CORPORATION COMMISSION v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Wake County; Brown, Judge.
Proceedings by the state, on the relation of the North Carolina Corporation Commission, against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. From a judgment for defendant on appeal from an order of the commission, the commission appeals. Reversed.
It appears from the record that for some 10 years prior to 11th October, 1903, the passenger traffic from a large portion of eastern North Carolina to Raleigh and the adjacent central part of the state was made by the defendant, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, connecting with the Southern Railway at Selma at 2:50 p. m. daily. For a year or two prior to that day the connection became very irregular, to the great inconvenience of the traveling public; passengers frequently being compelled to lie over at Selma till 11 o'clock at night, and then forced to take a mixed train, with uncomfortable accommodations, to go westward. The Southern Railway finding its time between Goldsboro and Greensboro (38 miles per hour) dangerous, on account of the condition of its track, had also lately changed its schedule to leave Goldsboro 30 minutes earlier. The matter being called to the attention of the Corporation Commission, it attempted to remedy the evil. After much correspondence with the officials of both roads, the commission on 8th December, 1903, made the following order: This order quickened the arrival time of the Atlantic Coast Line train at Selma 25 minutes, but, as it required the Southern to wait at that point 15 minutes for delayed trains, it more than divided the time between the roads; exacting only 10 minutes' advance of time on the part of the defendant to procure this convenience to the traveling public. On 18th December, 1903 on the application of counsel for the defendant, the order was suspended, and both companies were notified to appear before the Corporation Commission at Raleigh on 12th January 1904, that "the matter of the connection at Selma of the Atlantic Coast Line going south with that of the Southern Railway going west in the afternoon" might be heard, and asking both companies to have representatives present. The defendant appeared by its superintendent and its general counsel, and the other company was also represented. After hearing both sides, "the situation being thoroughly discussed," the commission took the matter under advisement. On 16th January, 1904, the commission rendered a full finding of the facts, concluding with this judgment It was further ordered that the order should take effect 26th January, 1904. To this judgment the Southern Railway Company did not except. The Atlantic Coast Line filed five exceptions: (1) That it was not practicable to make the connection at Selma by extending the run of either its Plymouth or its Springhope train to Selma; (2) that it would be unprofitable and a loss for it to make the connection by putting on an additional train from Rocky Mount to Selma; (3) the commission has no power to require it to put on extra trains; (4) that it is not practicable to make the connection without putting on an extra train, which the commission has no power to do; (5) that the order is unreasonable, because passengers from Rocky Mount can make connection at Goldsboro at 6:50 a. m., or at Selma by night train over the Southern, or they could go up to Weldon and go over the Seaboard Railroad. A letter in the record from the transportation department of the defendant company, dated 23d January, 1904, states that prior to the breaking of connection at Selma the defendant's 2:50 p. m. train transported on an average 12 passengers daily for the Southern at Selma, while since the average was only two. This shows 3,650 passengers annually inconvenienced by the failure to connect at that point. There is evidence elsewhere in the record that it was a very much larger number. On 2d February, 1904, the exceptions were heard by the commission upon the testimony of witnesses offered by the defendant and other evidence. Upon all the evidence, and after argument by counsel for the defendant, the commission, on 13th February, 1904, made a fuller finding of fact, in the course of which it is recited, inter alia, that, by the connection at Selma at 2:50 p. m. between the Atlantic Coast Line train No. 39 (south bound) and the Southern train No. 135 (west bound),
The commission found (giving its reasons) that passengers ought neither to be required to go a much longer distance around by Weldon, nor to make connection at unreasonable hours at Goldsboro (6:50 a. m.), nor to take a night train (11 p. m.) connection at Selma, when a few minutes quickened time would maintain the connection which had been made at Selma, in the early afternoon, for more than 10 years. The commission also found that the defendant could make the connection, if it chose, by extending the run of its Springhope train, which, coming down 19 miles from that place, reached Rocky Mount at 12:10, where it lay over until 4 p. m. before returning to Springhope, during which four hours it could easily be run 41 miles and back, making this connection. It thus concludes its judgment:
From this order, thus repeated the third time, and after the fullest investigation occupying several months, the defendant appealed to the superior court. In that court the following issues were submitted, the Corporation Commission excepting:
"(1) Is it practicable for train No. 39 of the Atlantic Coast Line, due to...
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