Chap. 139.—An ACT to incorporate Basic City, Bridgewater and Piedmont
railway company.

Approved January 238, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That J. E.
Sanger, J. E. Delaplaine, J. T. Lightner, W. H. Page, E. P. Wilson
and J. S. Runciman and their associates, successors and assigns,
be, and they are hereby, made and declared a body politic and corpo-
rate, by the name and style of Basic City, Bridgewater and Pied-
mont railway company.

2. The capital stock of said company shall be five hundred
thousand dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each, and may
from time to time be increased by the board of directors to any
amount not exceeding five million dollars.

3. The said Basic City, Bridgewater and Piedmont railway com-
pany is authorized and empowered to locate, construct, equip and
operate a railroad of standard gauge with single or double track,
commencing at or near the Chesapeake and western railway, in
Rockingham county, Virginia, and running thence by the most
practical and eligible route deemed advisable by the board of directors
of the said company to a point at or near James river, in Nelson or
Amherst county, Virginia; and it shall be lawful for said company
to construct, operate and maintain lateral or branch roads of stan-
dard gauge, not exceeding twenty-five miles each, which shall have
all the rights and powers and be subject to the same restriction as the
main line. And said company may carry passengers, freight, bag-
gage, express, and United States mail, and collect tolls and fares for
same.

4. The said company is also empowered and authorized to erect,
equip, maintain and operate electric lights, heat and power plants
for their own use, also telephone lines for their own use, and erect
and maintain poles and wires for their own use, distribution and
operation.

5. The said company shall have power to borrow money and to
make, issue and sell its bonds from time to time on such terms as
the board of directors may deem proper and necessary; and to se-
cure the payment of such loan or loans on its said bonds, the said
company may make and create one or more mortgages or deeds of
trust on the whole or any part of its property, charter rights or
franchises.

6. The said company may receive subscriptions to its capital stock,
to be paid in money or in land, property, material and equipment,
at such valuation and upon such terms as may be agreed upon be-
tween the board of directors and the subscribers, and may exchange
its bonds for lands, property and material and equipment at such
valuation and upon such terms as may be agreed upon between
the board of directors and the parties making such exchange; and
the board of directors, if they deem it proper and to the interest of
the company to do so, may sell its stock below its par value, and
when the price at which it is sold is fully paid the stock so sold
shall be treated as fully paid up, and shall be non-assessable; and
any person or persons who have expended labor or money on the
surveys or preliminary work done on said road before the organiza-
tion of the said company may be paid therefor in such manner by the
board of directors as they may deem proper; and said company may
hold, improve, sell or convey at pleasure all lands so acquired; pro-
vided that said company shall not hold lands not needed for its
purposes of incorporation for a longer period than twenty years.

7. Any county, city or town on or near the line of railroad of said
company, or any branch thereof, may subscribe to its capital stock
in the mode prescribed by law.

8. The said company shall have power to cross with its road at
grade, over or under any other railroad now constructed, or which
shall be hereafter constructed within the state, at any point on its
route, subject to the provisions of the general law of this state; unite
its road with any of said roads, and to enter upon the grounds of
such railroad company with the necessary turnouts, sidings, switches
and conveniences in furtherance of the objects of its construction, as
well as facilitate the exchange of passengers and traffic between the
respective roads; provided that the acquisition of any of the real
estate of another company shall be in the manner prescribed by the
laws of this state. °

9. It shall be lawful for the said company to acquire by lease, do-
nation, purchase or condemnation, according to the laws of Virginia,
land for right of way for tracks, stations, and other purposes neces-
sary for the successful construction and operation of its roads
through any of the counties through which it is authorized to con-
struct its lines, and to erect the necessary poles and wires thereon
for electrical purposes.

10. The said company, in building its road, may cross at grade,
over, or under any turnpike, by maintaining proper approaches and
crossings thereon.

11. The said company may operate its line or lines of railway by
electricity, steam or other motive power, as the board of directors
may select.

12. The corporators herein named shall have all the powers of a
president and board of directors for the purpose of the organization
of the said company, and for all other purposes, until a president
and board of directors shall have been elected at a stockholders’
meeting, and said meeting shall be held, upon due notice being
given in the manner provided by law for the holding of stockholders’
meetings, by section eleven hundred and fourteen of the code, with
this qualification, that the notice of the meeting must be published
in @ newspaper printed in or near the town of Basic City, Virginia,
and until sucb stockholders’ meeting is held the said corporators
shall constitute the board of directors, and shall elect one of their
number president, to hold office until his successor is elected; and
they may elect a secretary and treasurer and any other officers
deemed necessary from their number or other persons. When one
hundred thousand dollars of the capital stock of said company shall
have been subscribed, and ten per centum of same paid in, the or-
panization of said company shall be considered%o have been effected.
In case of any vacancies in the board of directors caused by death or
resignation of any of the directors, such vacancy or vacancies may
be filled by the remaining directors of the board.

13. The said company, by its name, may sue and be sued, plead
and be impleaded unto any court of law or equity in this state or
elsewhere, when its rights may come in question; may have and use
a common seal, which may be adopted by the board of directors, and
the same use, renew, or destroy at pleasure.

14. The work on the road herein authorized to be constructed must
commence within two years and be completed within five years from
the passage of this act.

15. The principal office of the said company shall be at Basic City,
Virginia, but meetings of the board of directors, or of the stock-
holders, may be held elsewhere in the state of Virginia, as the board
of directors or of the stockholders in general meeting may respec-
tively determine.

16. All assessments, taxes, dues, and demands due to the common-
wealth of Virginia shall be paid in lawful money of the United
States, and not in coupons.

17. This act shall be in force from its passage.