The claim is wholly without merit and agreement support, and Carrier respectfully requests the Third Division to deny the claim.

Except as herein expressly admitted, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company and Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company of Texas, and each of them, deny each and every, all and singular, the allegations of the Organization and Employes in alleged unadjusted dispute, claim or grievance.

For each and all of the foregoing reasons, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company and Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company of Texas, and each of them respectfully request the Third Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board, deny said claim and grant said Railroad Companies, and each of them, such other relief to which they may be entitled.

(Exhibits not reproduced.)

OPINION OF BOARD: This Claim involves the Carrier's responsibility for food spoilage in a refrigerator. The record indicates that the Claimants knew the refrigerator was not functioning properly. The trouble started in San Antonio. At Lockhart they called a service man, who told them the trouble was low voltage. At Smithville, because the refrigerator cut in and out, they removed their perishable food and called another serviceman. He came after hours when no one was there and did not service it. Claimants moved the next. day to Eureka and set up at the roundhouse, where 250 feet of cable was, necessary, instead of at the yard house. There, despite the history of the refrigerator, they stocked up with food which spoiled because the refrigerator failed again.

The record contains no evidence that Carrier was in any way remiss. It had furnished the refrigerator and servicemen to repair same. When the motor burned out, Carrier replaced it. Carrier cannot be held responsible, since it furnished the equipment and promptly repaired it or replaced it when Claimants requested it.

Claimants, on the other hand, after being warned that the refrigerator would not work on low voltage, set up in a place away from other gangs for their own convenience, using an extra long extension line for power, thus lowering the voltage. Despite their knowledge that the refrigerator serviceman they had summoned had not yet repaired the refrigerator, they stacked it with food. When the refrigerator cut off, they did nothing to protect their foodstuffs although ice was available. Carrier cannot be held responsible for the damage which resulted from Claimants' negligence.

FINDINGS: The Third Division of the Adjustment Board, after giving the parties to this dispute due notice of hearing thereon, and upon the whole record and all the evidence, finds and holds:

That the Carrier and the Employes involved in this dispute are respectively Carrier and Employes within the meaning of the Railway Labor Act, as approved June 21, 1934;

That this Division of the Adjustment Board has jurisdiction over the dispute involved herein; and

That Carrier did not violate Agreement.

AWARD