and did not argue whether the court had jurisdiction in the matter. On July 7, Judge Carroll C. Hincks issued an order allowing the railroad to close the stations; the PUC appealed, and the state formed a legislative committee to investigate the matter. The 93 stations were closed effective Sunday, July 17, 1938. The PUC, doubtful the validity of Hicks' order, selected the Yarmouth–Provincetown service – the most disruptive of the closures – as a test case. In late July, the PUC ordered the Old Colony to reinstate one round trip and seven of the fourteen stations. The railroad filed a bill in equity in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeking an injunction to prevent the PUC or Massachusetts Attorney General Paul A. Dever from enforcing the PUC order. Dever, in return, petitioned the Massachusetts Supreme Court to enforce the PUC order, and appealed Hincks' decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The parties agreed to postpone the conflicting court filings until the appeals court ruled. The PUC appeal went to the appeals court before judges Learned Hand, Thomas Walter Swan, and Augustus Noble Hand. On January 16, 1939, the court ruled 2–1 in Converse v. Massachusetts that Hincks had exceeded his jurisdiction by issuing the order closing the 88 stations. The trustees appealed, and the stations remained closed. On November 6, 1939, the United States Supreme Court ruled 8–0 in Palmer v. Massachusetts to confirm the circuit court ruling that only the PUC had the power to allow station closures, and that the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings did not give Hincks the power to overrule the PUC. On November 28, 1939, the PUC issued an order that the 88 stations in Massachusetts be reopened by December 10. The New Haven and the PUC reached an agreement on December 5 under which the order would be stayed for 30 days and that the PUC would allow some lesser-used stations to close, in exchange for the railroad agreeing to reopen some stations. After hearings, the PUC ruled on February 21, 1940, that the railroad must restore service to 32 of the 88 stations, with the remaining 56 allowed to permanently close. Service was restored to 25 stations – including Readville–Boston service on the Dorchester Branch, and service on the Charles River Branch as far as Caryville – on March 11, 1940. Many