Missouri Pacific Railway Company v. Bradbury
| Decision Date | 07 March 1904 |
| Citation | 79 S.W. 966,106 Mo.App. 450 |
| Parties | MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Appellant, v. E. S. BRADBURY et al., Respondents |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Jackson Circuit Court.--Hon. E. P. Gates, Judge.
Decree affirmed.
Elijah Robinson for appellant.
(1) The track in controversy had not been abandoned by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. The rule is that "the mere non-user of this piece of road, in the absence of adverse possession by the servient owner, or other acts of such unequivocal nature on the part of the owners of the railroad as to evince a clear intention to abandon the easement, would not work an extinguishment of the right-of-way. Railway v. Railway, 129 Mo. 70; Investment Co. v Railway, 108 Mo. 50. (2) But even if we should concede that the Missouri Pacific Railway Company abandoned that part of the road from which defendants were removing the rails in controversy, still that fact did not vest in the defendants or in McElroy and Baird, under whom defendants claim any title to said rails. The rails were not a part of the realty and even though the right-of-way might revert to the owner of the fee because of non-user or abandonment by the railroad company, the rails would not pass to the landowner, but would remain the property of the railroad company. Wagner v. Railroad, 22 Ohio St. 563; Railway v. Nyce, 61 Kan. 394; Railroad v. Canton Co., 3 Md. 347; Railroad v. Morgan, 42 Kan. 23.
B. P. Finley for respondent.
(1) Upon the abandonment by the railway company of the land which had constituted the right-of-way, both the title to the land and the rails thereon was vested in Messrs. Baird and McElroy, and they had a right to sell them to the defendants. The effect of the abandonment of the right-of-way is that the company loses all its rights thereto, and the original owners may assume possession. Hastings v. Railroad, 38 Ia. 316; Railroad v. Railroad, 86 N.Y. 107; Railroad v. Railroad, 63 Tex. 529; Railroad v. Railroad, 36 Conn. 196; Fernow v. Railroad, 75 Ia. 526. (2) Abandonment divests title as fully as a conveyance. McGoon v. Ankeny, 11 Ill. 558; Gluckauf v. Reed, 22 Cal. 468. And it operates from the time of the act of abandonment. Davis v. Butler, 6 Cal. 510. (3) The rails were fixtures upon the premises and passed with the realty. Hunt v. Railroad, 76 Mo. 115; 3 Wait's Actions and Defenses, p. 379, sec. 9; Jones' Real Property in Conveyancing, sec. 1729, and note 1; Van Keuren v. Railroad, 38 N. J. L. 165; Porter v. Steel Co., 122 U.S. 283; Railroad v. Cowdrey, 11 Wall. 480; Dillon v. Barnard, 21 Wall. 440; Fostick v. Shaw, 99 U.S. 235; Wade v. Railroad, 149 U.S. 327; Denman v. Railroad, 26 S.W. 304. (4) The cases cited by the appellant are by no means in point. They are all similar to the case cited by it, to-wit: Railroad v. Nyce, 61 Kan. 394.
This is a proceeding for an injunction. The case as disclosed by the record is about this:
It is in effect conceded that, in the northwest quarter of section 31, township 50, range 32, of Jackson county, beginning at a point about 2,100 feet west of the point where the Santa Fe railroad crosses the Missouri Pacific tracks, in section 31, township 50, range 32, between Kansas City and Independence, H. L. McElroy owns about four acres of land south of the Missouri Pacific track, and the estate of F. J. Baird owns a little more than nine acres of land adjoining the McElroy land on the west, and also south of the Missouri Pacific main line, through both of which tracts of land runs what was once the right-of-way of the railroad commonly known as the old narrow gauge, from Kansas City to Lexington.
By reference to the following plat it will be seen that the Missouri Pacific Railway curves from the north southward and eastward, and that the old narrow gauge right-of-way ran east and west, and, at the point marked "A" on said plat (it being 1,300 feet east of the east line of the McElroy land), the narrow gauge right-of-way ran into the Missouri Pacific right-of-way, and was, thereafter, within said Missouri Pacific right-of-way:
[SEE ILLUSTRATION IN ORIGINAL]
In 1882, the plaintiff having acquired this narrow gauge road, changed it from a narrow to a broad gauge railroad, and said narrow gauge ran east and west and, at the point indicated, was for a short time the main line of the Missouri Pacific. Thereafter, in 1884, the Missouri Pacific constructed the present main line between Independence and Kansas City, and built its tracks in a northwesterly direction from the point at which the Santa Fe crosses the Missouri Pacific tracks, as indicated on said plat, and then abandoned and, thereafter, never used the old narrow gauge tracks from the point "A" westward for any purpose whatsoever. 80 Mo. 117, et seq. That after the year 1884, what was once the narrow gauge track, from the point "A" westward was not, in any sense, used by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company; that the entire right-of-way, from said point "A" west, was covered with trees and brush, and that, between the rails, there were, at the time of the institution of this suit, growing trees seventeen inches in diameter, and all of the witnesses for the defendants testified that large trees were growing between the rails, so that a car could not pass over the track. The evidence tended to prove that the ties were so rotten that they could not hold spikes, and the rails in many places disconnected and scattered over the ground, and this applies to all that portion of the track east of the land of McElroy and Baird to the point "A," where this track ran into the Missouri Pacific right-of-way, as shown upon the plat above mentioned. In 1902 the defendants, Bradbury and Howell, purchased from Messrs. McElroy and Baird the rails which were lying upon the ground where the right-of-way had once been, and which it is claimed was then together with the rails thereon, by operation of law, and by the abandonment of the railroad company, the property of said McElroy and Baird, and, while removing the rails which they had so purchased, were stopped by the employees of the Missouri Pacific Railway Co., and this proceeding was begun for the purpose of enjoining them from removing said rails.
The trial court on motion of the defendants dissolved the injunction and from that decree the plaintiff appealed.
The Narrow Gauge Railway Company acquired the right-of-way--the easement--over the lands of which Baird and McElroy were the owners in fee; and by the consolidation, the plaintiff succeeded to the rights of the former road in respect to its right-of-way over said land. It seems to be conceded that the plaintiff has not for many years used that part of the right-of-way extending over the lands referred to. There is some conflict in the testimony of the witnesses as to just when the non-user began; the greater preponderance of it, however, sustains the contention that it--the non-user--began in 1884. While mere non-user will not amount to an abandonment, it is well settled that an easement acquired by grant or its equivalent, may be lost by abandonment.
To constitute an abandonment of an easement acquired by grant, acts must be shown of such unequivocal nature as to indicate a clear intention to abandon. An abandonment will be more readily inferred where the easement was granted for public purposes than where created for private use. Roanoke v. Railway, 108 Mo. 50. The plaintiff ceased to use that part of its right-of-way extending over the lands of Baird and McElroy something like eighteen years ago. No cars were or could be run over the track along there. Trees had grown up on it; the ties to which the rails were fastened had been allowed to decay and were not replaced with new ones. The record of the proceedings in the mandamus case in 80 Mo., already referred to, conclusively establishes the abandonment. Nothing more is needed. Indeed, we do not understand that it is or can be contended that there has been no abandonment.
The question now is, whether or not the iron rails in controversy, laid as they were upon the road-bed and fastened there so that engines and cars could pass over them, become thereby so annexed to the land as to be a part of it and consequently...
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