Firth

Plaintiff sued for one thousand two hundred dollars damages received by his automobile in a collision with one of defendant’s ears. The case was tried before the court, sitting without a jury, findings and judgment were in favor of plaintiff for six hundred dollars and the appeal is by defendant from said judgment.

The accident occurred at a street crossing in the city of Redding, where four railroad tracks are maintained by defendant. From east to west the tracks are: The main line, the passing or switch-track, the house-track, and a spur- track. Plaintiff, who was at the time of the accident, fifty-five or fifty-six years of age, resided on the west side of the tracks, his place of business being east thereof. A short time before 8 o’clock in the evening of October 18, 1917, he started in an automobile from his home to his store, traveling on Shasta Street. He testified: “Before I left home I heard a train bell ringing, which we generally do; it was switching; and I came to the track, within forty or fifty feet, and I looked up the track, and the engine was standing on the house-track near the bridge. I could see a trainman with a light. He was turning the switch for the engine…