Opinion, per JOHNSON, J. The railway company built its line of railroad across the 33-foot strip and extended it about a half mile beyond to a new mine of The Morgan Run Coal & Mining Company. John and Peter Ingham, the complainants before the commission, have acquired the rights of the Burt heirs in the land and in the agreement referred to. A loading platform was constructed along the public highway on the 33-foot strip for the loading of coal from wagons on to cars, and coal was, from time to time, transported by the railway company from that point to the Wheeling & Lake Erie at a fixed price per ton. The 33-foot strip was not connected with the portion of the line of railroad which is conceded to be the railway company property. It was near a portion of the line claimed by the coal company. Subsequently the strip was conveyed by the railway company to the coal company and the line of road was shifted therefrom to land of the coal company. The proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission grew out of the refusal of the railway company to continue the service which it had been rendering to the Ingham mines. It is contended that the order of the commission requires the railway company to furnish facilities and operate a line on property not owned by it; that the commission has no jurisdiction to require one who is not a common carrier to act as such; and that the tracks which are located on the land of the coal and mining company are the private tracks of that company, over which the commission has no jurisdiction. Opinion, per JOHNSON, J. Section 523, General Code, provides that the commission shall have the same control over private tracks, so far as such tracks are used by common carriers in connection with a railroad for the transportation of freight, as it has over tracks of such railroad. Section 8990, General Code, requires all railroad companies to extend to all persons receiving and shipping freight the same and equal opportunities. This statute is declaratory of the common law on the subject. As we have shown, the railway company is, as to so much of the line of railroad as is owned or operated by it, a common carrier; and any arrangement made by it for the transportation of freight over its road in connection with private tracks is subject to the supervision of the commission. Authorities are cited by plaintiff in error which show that courts have prevented the enforcement of orders, which, in their effect, operated to deprive persons of property without due process of law, or that require work the expense of which would be out of proportion to any reasonably anticipated return. It is contended that the order of the commission in this case in effect requires the railway company to extend its line over property which it does not own, to purchase equipment which it is unable to buy, and forces the coal company to grant the use of its land to the railway company for the benefit of a competitor. While a railroad company's property must be used by the company in the performance of its duty to the public, and in this behalf is subject to gov Opinion, per JOHNSON, J. ernmental supervision, beyond this it must be held to have the right to control its own affairs and to manage its business in its own way so long as it does not injuriously affect the public or exceed its charter powers. Matters of purely business policy must be left to the decision of the company, and except in unusual circumstances, the question whether it shall extend its lines to points not before reached, or engage in any additional enterprise, is one to be determined by its directors. Chicago, M. & St. P. Rd. Co. v. Wisconsin, 238 U. S., 491; Gt. Northern Ry. Co. v. Minnesota, Id., 340, and Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Railroad Commission, 173 Cal., 577. Now, in this case, there was a dispute as to whether the railway company was the owner of the entire line and equipment. In the year 1917 The Morgan Run Railway Company filed with the State Tax Commission a statement, verified by the oath of its president, who was also president of the coal company, in which it is stated that the railway company was the owner of the lines in question, 3.48 miles in length, from the Wheeling & Lake Erie railway to the mines of the coal company. But assuming for the purpose of this case that the Public Utilities Commission had no authority to finally adjudicate the question of title, and assuming, without deciding, that the coal company was the owner of the portion of the line which it claims, we are still confronted with the fact that the railway company insists on a plan of procedure which will result in the operation, ex Opinion, per JOHNSON, J. clusively for the coal company's benefit, of all that portion of the line which is concededly owned by the railway company. As a common carrier, subject to the control of the state and its commission, the railway company denies to complainants the benefit of the provisions of Section 523, General Code, above set out. It must be noted that by the terms of that section it is not necessary that the railway company own the line. It is sufficient to give the commission jurisdiction that private tracks are used in common with the line of the railway company. In W. C. Agee & Co. v. L. & N. Rd. Co., 142 Ala., 344, it was held that a railroad which serves business houses located along a spur track by delivering to them cars of freight, and cars to be freighted and shipped, is a common carrier with respect to the use it makes of the track, and is, as such, bound to treat the houses located along the track without discrimination, and cannot discontinue its service as to one and continue it as to others. In that case the answer averred that the track was owned by and was on the land of the complainants, and persons other than defendant, and that the car service thereon was not rendered by the railroad company as a common carrier. The court held that on the facts stated it was a common carrier. In McCallum et al. v. Minneapolis & R. R. Ry. Co., 129 Minn., 121, the defendant company owned and operated a line of railroad, and also a number of connecting stub lines, the roadbed and ties of which were owned by a lumber company. The Opinion, per JOHNSON, J. railway company owned the rails and fasteners, and laid the rails and maintained the tracks. It exacted a charge of one dollar per car, called trackage charge, in addition to the tariff rates for cars. originating on the stub lines, except those of the lumber company. In holding such charge invalid, the court, after stating that it was contended that the lumber company was not a common carrier and not within the jurisdiction of the commission, say at page 124: "This is conceded. It is not a common carrier nor even a private carrier. It has a roadbed and ties but the defendant is the common carrier which exclusively operates over them. The suggestion is made that the result reached amounts to a confiscation of the property of the lumber company. The lumber company is not in this suit. It presents to the court no grievance. It and the plaintiffs sustain no contractual or other relations. And besides it is not injured. *** The lumber company was not required to permit the use of its roadbed by others. The defendant railway company was not required to operate these stub lines as a common carrier. It was not required to run its cars in and take out the products of the plaintiffs. It undertook to operate these stub lines as a common carrier. Then it became entitled to reasonable transportation and service charges and was charged with correlative duties. * ** We place our decision upon the ground that the defendant was a common carrier over the stub lines just as much as over its own main line." The court further point out that a different holding might lead to |