Chap. 168.—An ACT to authorize the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company to
discontinue the use of, take up, and remove a certain portion of its railroad
line to Lexington, Virginia, and to substitute in lieu thereof a trackage ar-
rangement with the Norfolk and Western Railway Company under certain
limitations and conditions.

Approved March 14, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the gencral assembly of Virginia, That it shall be
lawful for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company to discontinue the
use of, take up, and remove its line of railwav between Balcony Falls and
Loch Taird, in the county of Rockbridge, Virginia, a distance of nine
and nine-tenths miles, more or less: provided, however, and upon condi-
tion that it shall enter into an arrangement in writing, duly acknowl-
edged and recorded in the clerk’s office of the county court of Rockbridge
county, and a copy thereof filed in the office of the board of public works
of Virginia, with the Norfolk and Western Railway Company, by which
it shall be entitled to use the track of the said last mentioned railway
company between Loch Laird and a connection with the Richmond and
Alleghany division of the Chesapeake and Ohio railway at Glasgow in
lieu of said part so discontinued, so that there shall be no interruption of
the operation of trains over its branch line to Lexington, Virginia: pro-
vided, further, that should at any time hereafter the said Chesapeake and
Ohio Railway Company cease for any reason to utilize the said track of
the Norfolk and Western Railway Company for the operation of trains
on its branch to Lexington, Virginia, then, and in that event, the said
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company shall forthwith proceed to re-
store, maintain, and operate the said portion of said line by this act au-
thorized to be discontinued: provided, further, that so long as the use of
said above mentioned part of said railway shall be so discontinued the
owners of the land through which said line of railway extends shall be
entitled to, and shall have the right to, the unmolested use and occupa-
tion of the same. And nothing in this act shall ever be construed to re-
lieve the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, or its successors or
assigns, from any and all obligations now resting upon it, or them, to
regularly run and operate freight and passenger trains between the main
line of its James river division at or near Balcony Falls:and the town of
Lexington, but such obligation shall continue in full force, except that
so long as it shall use the track of Norfolk and Western railway, as above
provided for, making said connection, it shall not be bound to run its
trains over so much of its line as is hereby authorized to be discontinued :
provided, further, that the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company shall
continue to pay a tax to the county of Rockbridge and Natural Bridge
magisterial district, in said county, of such a sum as is necessary to make
the total taxation of the two railroads to said county and district, yearly,
not less than the tax of ninetcen hundred and one, until such time as, by
the regular methods of taxation, the aggregate county and district taxes
on the track of the Norfolk and Western railway between Glasgow and
Loch Laird equals the sum assessed in nineteen hundred and one against
both railroads. Any county or district tax assessed on the right of way
of the abandoned line of railway or on the belt line in the town of Glas-
gow necessary to connect the two railroads, or on any other improvements
or works constructed by said Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company at
Glasgow, or between Glasgow and Loch Laird, is to be credited on the
amount to be paid by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.