Mount Pleasant Coal Co. v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad

Citations

• 200 Pa. 434
• 50 A. 251
• 1901 Pa. LEXIS 514

Syllabus

<p>Railroad.—Right of way—Agreement with landowner—Overhead bridge— Goal land.</p> <p>Where a railroad company secures by an agreement with the owner and not by the exercise of the right of eminent domain, a right of way over a farm underlaid with coal, and it appears by the terms of the deed that the right of way is limited to a two-track-railroad, and it also appears that the value of the coal was known to both parties at the time of the deed, that the farm was severed by the right of way, and that by the acts of the parties in erecting fences, walls and buildings, the lines of the right of Way were fixed and remained so for a long period of time, the railroad company cannot prevent the owner of the land from erecting an overhead bridge across the right of way which will not interfere with the operation of the railroad, and which is intended to be used for taking coal from one part of the land to the other, and is in substitution of a coal trestle which is to be taken down and abandoned.</p> <p>All contracts made by a railroad company with the landowner whereby privileges are wholly or in part obtained, without condemnation are favorably regarded by the courts, and are construed strongly in favor of the owner.</p> <p>Railroads —Overhead crossing— Acl of April 16, 1838, P. L. 464.</p> <p>The Aet of April 16, 1838, P. L. 464, whieh provides that no person shall construct an overhead crossing- over a railroad without the permission of the railroad company, was aimed at wilful trespassers, and does not apply to a person who has granted by deed to a railroad company a right of way across his land, reserving- all the coal under the land both outside and beneath the tracks, and containing a plain assertion of intent by the owner to enjoy to the full his-property as a coal property.</p>