On the foregoing petition, Ordered: That the petitioner cause to be published a true copy of said petition and this order of notice thereon, attested by the Clerk of this Board, two weeks successively in The Old York Transcript, a newspaper published at York Village, in the county of York, the last publication in said paper to be prior to Wednesday the 11th day of February, A. D. 1914, on which day the Board of Railroad Commissioners will be in session at Traip Academy Hall in Kittery at 10.45 o'clock in the forenoon, when and where all parties interested may be heard thereon. Notice of said time and place of hearing shall also be given to Mr. Morris McDonald, President of the York Harbor & Beach Railroad Company, Boston, Massachusetts, by forwarding by mail, postage pre-paid, to him a copy of said petition and order, attested as aforesaid, fourteen days at least before the date of said hearing. ELMER P. SPOFFORD, Chairman. For the Board of Railroad Commissioners of Maine. Dated this 20th day of January A. D. 1914. STATE OF MAINE. In Board of Railroad Commissioners. Upon the foregoing petition, notice having been given as ordered, the Board met at the time and place fixed by said order, and gave a hearing to all parties interested. Mr. Horace Mitchell and Mr. A. B. Cole appeared for the petitioners. Mr. Seth M. Carter appeared for the York Harbor and Beach Railroad Company. This is a petition on the part of citizens of Kittery representing that public convenience and necessity require the maintenance of a station for freight and passengers at Kittery Point, on the line of the York Harbor and Beach Railroad, and also additional train service on said road. The railroad company appears and for answer says: I. That the passenger and freight business at Kittery Point during the winter months is not sufficient to warrant the maintenance of the station which is already erected there; and 2. That the Board of Railroad Commissioners has no power to require additional train service. Inasmuch as the Commissioners are of opinion that the two trains now being operated daily over said road furnish reasonable and adequate service at the present time, no necessity exists for inquiry into the question of their jurisdiction over train service and schedules. The only question, therefore, which is involved under this petition, is whether the station at Kittery Point should be maintained. Under its original charter this railroad corporation was granted "all the powers, rights and privileges," and made "subject to all the duties, obligations and restrictions conferred and imposed by the laws of the state." The general laws of the state require that railroads, when once established, shall be maintained and operated, and in furtherance of the purposes of their creation, they are charged with the duty of erecting and maintaining along their lines, such stations for passengers and freight as may be demanded by public convenience and necessity. A railroad corporation cannot absolve itself from the performance of its corporate duty without the consent of the legislature; and so this corporation when it desired to suspend the operation of its road during a portion of each year, sought legislative approval. It is equally bound to maintain such stations on its lines as will furnish reasonable convenience and satisfy public necessity. The location and maintenance of stations involve as well the interests and welfare of the public as those of the corporation and its stockholders. The railroad corporation is by law clothed with broad powers, and in the first instance, it may determine the location and maintenance of stations along its lines; but the exercise of such powers is always subject to regulation, within reasonable limits, by the legislature. It may be that directors of such corporations have not recognized, at all times, their legal obligations and been responsive to the just demands of public necessities. In 1871, the legislature by an act entitled "An Act giving additional powers to the railroad commissioners," vested this Commission, upon due notice and after hearing, with authority to order the erection and maintenance of stations for passengers and freight when required by public convenience and necessity, and to enforce such order by proceedings in the Supreme Judicial Court. This act in the revisions has become sections 61, 62 and 63 of Chapter 51 of the Revised Statutes, and has been declared constitutional by the courts. It appears by the evidence in this case that the chief business of Kittery Point is the entertainment of summer visitors and tourists, and during the summer months the village is one of the important and notable resorts on the coast of Maine. During the winter, there is not a large general business, but it is a populous community and there is a considerable freight and passenger traffic. With legislative permission, this railroad in the past has suspended operation on a portion of its line, including Kittery Point, during the winter months, but such consent has now been withdrawn, and a mixed train makes a round trip daily between York Beach and Portsmouth. It is the judgment of the Railroad Commissioners that the people of Kittery Point should be given an opportunity to participate to a greater extent in the benefits of such train service. The fact that the station can be maintained during the winter only at a loss to the railroad, does not of itself absolve the corporation from its duty to furnish the public reasonable station accommodations. It is a fact to be considered, however, and we have given it and all other evidence in the case, careful consideration, and hereby find and determine that public convenience and necessity require the maintenance of said railroad station at Kittery Point as now located, and we Order and direct the York Harbor and Beach Railroad Company forthwith to keep said station open for the accommodation and comfort of passengers and for the reception and delivery of freight, for a reasonable time before and after the arrival and departure of all trains, and to furnish immediately some suitable person to maintain said station in accordance with the requirements of this order. Dated at Augusta this twentieth day of February, A. D. 1914. ELMER P. SPOFFORD, FRANK KEIZER, JOHN A. JONES, Railroad Commissioners of Maine. Petition and decision of the Board in the matter of Ralph W. Hawkes and 93 others, citizens of York, asking for additional freight and passenger service on York Harbor and Beach Railroad. York, Maine, January 1, 1914. To the Honorable Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of Maine: We, the undersigned, citizens of York, respect fully represent that public convenience and necessity require additional freight and passenger service on the York Harbor and Beach Railroad. We, therefore, respectfully petition your Honorable Body to be heard in the above matters, and to be granted such relief as you may determine under the powers conferred upon you by the statutes of our State. On the foregoing petition, RALPH W. HAWKES and 93 others. Ordered: That the petitioner cause to be published a true copy of said petition and this order of notice thereon, attested by the Clerk of this Board, two weeks successively in The Old York Transcript, a newspaper published at York Village, in the county of York, the last publication in said paper to be prior to Wednesday the 11th day of February, A. D. 1914, on which day the Board of Railroad Commissioners will be in session at Traip Academy Hall in Kittery at 11.00 o'clock in the forenoon, when and where all parties interested may be heard thereon. Notice of said time and place of hearing shall also be given to Mr. Morris McDonald, President of the York Harbor and Beach Railroad Company, Boston, Massachusetts, by forwarding by mail, postage prepaid, to him a copy of said petition and order, attested as aforesaid, fourteen days at least before the date of said hearing. ELMER P. SPOFFORD, Chairman, For the Board of Railroad Commissioners of Maine. Dated this 20th day of January, A. D. 1914. STATE OF MAINE. In Board of Railroad Commissioners. February 20, A. D. 1914. Dismissed by order of the Board, (See decree in Docket No. 776.) GEORGE F. GIDDINGS, Clerk of the Board. Petition and decision of the Board in the matter of Municipal Officers of Portland, asking approval of a highway crossing the tracks of the Portland Terminal Co., at Conant Street Extension, Portland. Portland, Maine, February 2, 1914. To the Railroad Commissioners of the State of Maine: The Municipal Officers of the City of Portland, Maine, respectfully represent that WHEREAS, by an order passed by the City Council of the City of Portland December 1, 1913, and approved by the Mayor of said City December 2, 1913, a certain street or way, known as Conant Street Extension, was laid out across the railroad tracks of the Portland Terminal Company at a point between Forest Avenue and Deering Avenue in said Portland upon the lines and angles hereinafter described: Beginning at a point in the center line of Conant Street at its intersection with the northerly side line of The Portland Terminal Company location, said point being distant southerly on said center line 52.88 feet more or less from a point in said center line at right angles to a stone monument at the northwesterly corner of Rochester and Conant Streets; thence southerly on a prolongation of the center line of said Conant Street a distance of 268.57 feet more or less to a point in the northerly side line of the Marginal Way. Said street to be 50.0 feet wide, and to lie 25.0 feet on either side of the above described line, |