Catawissa Railroad v. Philadelphia & Reading Railroad

Citations

• 168 Pa. 544
• 32 A. 62
• 1895 Pa. LEXIS 837

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Lease—Covenants—Parallel roads.</p> <p>Plaintiff leased to defendant its railroad as well as its traffic contract rights with connecting or feeder railroads, for a period of 999 years, the defendant to maintain the road in good order and condition, keep it in public use, operate it with all reasonable care and efficiency and use all proper and reasonable means to maintain and increase the business thereof. Defendant subsequently became practically the owner of another connecting railroad having the same general direction as the leased railroad with practically the same terminals. Held, that, while defendant may not violate the stipulations of the contract in letter and spirit and operate its own road for its own benefit without incurring liability to the plaintiff, yet its covenant is not broken by shipping large amounts of freight over its own parallel road, when the carrying of such freights over the leased road would have been impracticable, on account of its heavy grades, curvatures and ancient method of construction.</p>