Friedeberg

Defendant appeals from an adverse judgment entered by the court sitting without a jury, in an action to quiet title to three railroad bridges.

Between 1900 and about 1945 the Yosemite Valley Railroad owned and operated an 80-mile railway between Merced and El Portal in Mariposa County. In the late 1920’s the construction of Exchequer Dam necessitated relocation of the *728 railroad right of way and building of certain tunnels, trestles and bridges on the railroad’s fee, including the three bridges with which we are concerned.

Thereafter defendant Adolf Friedeberg, A1 Perlman and others formed a partnership for the purpose of obtaining the majority of Yosemite Valley Railroad first mortgage bonds. The railroad ceased operations and defaulted on the bonds in 1945, whereupon the Adolf Friedeberg group demanded that the trustee of the railroad sell the assets.

A foreclosure sale was held September 7, 1945, and through Perlman the Adolf Friedeberg group purchased all the assets for $585,000. The “Trustee’s Deed and Bill of Sale” purported to convey all real and personal property owned by the railroad, including by description but not limited to, the real property in fee, franchises,…