United States v. Grand Trunk Ry. Co. of Canada

• Citation: 203 F. 775
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. GRAND TRUNK RY. CO. of CANADA.
• Decision Date: 08 March 1913
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

203 F. 775

UNITED STATES v. GRAND TRUNK RY. CO. of CANADA.

United States District Court, W.D. New York.

March 8, 1913

John Lord O'Brian, U.S. Atty., of Buffalo, N.Y.

Moot Sprague, Brownell & Marcy, of Buffalo, N.Y. (John W. Ryan, of Buffalo, N.Y., of counsel), for defendant.

HAZEL District Judge.

Action to recover penalty for violation of section 2 of the Safety Appliance Act, passed March 2, 1893 (27 Stat. 531, c. 196 (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3174)), as amended. It is substantially provided by the said act that trains shall have their brakes. including the brakes of all power-braked cars in such train, used and operated by the engineer of the locomotive drawing the train. The statute, which is broadly phrased, does not contain any exceptions, or specifically refer to yard movements or switching movements, or to any conditions under which such power brakes are not required to be controlled by the engineer, and it is therefore important to determine whether the cars in this case come within the provisions of the act.

The undisputed facts show that the cars constituting the train were hauled from Black Rock, in Buffalo, to Bridgeburg, in Canada, a distance of approximately two miles, over a drawbridge crossing the Barge Canal and over the International Bridge across Niagara river. The cars were not engaged in the performance of a switching operation, nor were they moving in the yard of the defendant company; but the evidence as to one cause of action set forth in the complaint shows that 9 cars were coupled and loaded, and hauled by a locomotive, and, as to the other cause of action, that there were 25 coupled, loaded cars similarly hauled on the main track to Bridgeburg, from whence they were destined to other points. I think the journey was fairly initiated at Buffalo and that the cars coupled to the locomotive constituted a train, and that the operators of the train constituted a train crew, even though orders from the train dispatcher of the defendant were not given to them at Buffalo, but were given to another crew relieving them at Bridgeburg.

In Webster's Dictionary the word 'train' is defined as a 'connected line of cars or carriages on a railroad ' In Detroit Street Railway v. Mills, 85 Mich 634, 48 N.W. 1007, it is stated that 'a train is a continuous or connected line of cars or carriages on a railroad. ' In Dacey v. Old Colony R.R. Co., 153 Mass. 112, 26 N.E. 437, and in Carson v. B. & A.R.R. Co., 164 Mass. 523, 42 N.E....