Newkirk

— Plaintiff, an employee of the defendant Railway Company, brought this action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (45 U.S.C.A. 51) and the Safety Appliance Act (45 U.S.C.A. 11), to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by him as the result of an alleged inefficient hand brake on a car operated by defendant.

Plaintiff was employed by defendant as a switchman and was injured while engaged in the performance of his duties at about 5:30 a. m., on December 14, 1938; it was dark and there had been a light rain. Defendant, a California railway corporation, is a common carrier by railroad handling both interstate and intrastate shipments, its business consisting chiefly *311 of the terminal distribution and collection of freight cars for other railroads. It does not do business with the general public. The car in question, a tanker, containing cottonseed oil, originated at Phoenix, Arizona, the point of shipment. Its destination was Swift & Company at Vernon, California. The tanker, together with other cars from out of the State, was turned over to defendant by other carriers to be delivered by defendant over its system to their ultimate point of destination in Vernon;…