Bernard Ryan and Robert Ryan, D/B/A Ryan Fruit Company v. St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge.

In 1908, defendant, a Vermont corporation operating a short-line railroad in northern Vermont, constructed an underpass beneath its tracks in the Town of Wolcott for what is now State Route 15. In compliance with the order of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, the underpass had a “minimum clear height * * *, between the lowest surface of the railroad bridge * * * and the crown of the finished roadway” of 13 feet. Vermont makes it the duty of the State Highway Board to erect and maintain danger signs on state highways and prohibits others from doing so without the…