Chap. 165.—An ACT to incorporate the Norfolk and Northern railroad com-
pany.

Approved February 14, 1901.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That Isaac A.
Hopper, William F. Grell, John A. Mfiltner, Judson J. Embrey and
Charles H. Woodhull, their associates, successors and assigns be, and they
are, hereby made and declared a body, politic and corporate, by the name
and style of the Norfolk and Northern railroad company.

2. The capital stock of said company shall not be less than one hun-
dred thousand dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars each,
and the issue and sale of sharcs, preferred or common stock, or both,
may be upon such terms and conditions and under such regulations as
the board of directors of said company shall prescribe, and the directors
may receive cash, labor, materials, bonds, stock, real or personal property
in payment of subscriptions to the capital stock, at such valuation and
at such prices as may be agreed upon between the directors and the sub-
scribers, and shall make such cash subscriptions payable in such man-
ner or amounts and at such times as may be agreed upon with the sub-
scribers. It shall be lawful for the circuit court of the city of Rich-
mond, or of any city or county through which the said road may run,
upon petition of the president and board of directors, at any time, to
order an increase of the capital stock, upon the payment of the proper
charter fee tax for such increase of stock into the state treasury, or to
the auditor of public accounts.

3. The said Norfolk and Northern railroad company is authorized
and empowered to locate, construct and operate a railroad of standard
gauge, with one or more tracks, having for beginning any point it may
select at or near deep tide water at or between Newport News and the
Rappahannock river, and running thence by such route as the directors
of said company may select as the most feasible to any point it max
select in the county of Rockingham or Frederick, and it shall be lawful
for said company to construct and operate lateral or branch roads not
exceeding twenty miles in length each, which shall have all the rights
and powers and be subject to the same limitations and restrictions as the
main line; and said company may begin the work of construction at
any point it may elect along the route of its main line of road: provided,
that nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorize the said
Norfolk and Northern railroad company to parallel the Richmond, Fred-
ericksburg and Potomac railroad company.

‘4. The said company may own and lease boats, barges and vessels pro-
pelled by either steam or sail, and operate the same in connection with
its lines of railroad for the transportation of freight and passengers, and
otherwise to facilitate its trade and commerce.

5. The said company shall have power to issue and sell its bonds, at
such times for such sums and on such terms as the directors may deem
expedient, and to borrow money in such sums as they may deem neces-
sary to carry on its work, and in order to secure the payment of its
bonds or of the money so borrowed, may create mortgages or deeds of
trust on its chartered rights, franchises and property, and the said com-
pany may receive in exchange for its bonds any real or personal property
that may be agreed upon between the directors and the owners of such
property, and may hold, improve, sell and convey any real estate so or
otherwise acquired.

6. It shall be lawful for any city, county, town or incorporated com-
pany to donate land or other property to said company, and to subscribe
to its capital stock or to acquire its bonds, under such restrictions and in
such manner as the law prescribes.

7. The said company shall have power to cross at grade over and under
any other railroad at any point on its route, subject to the provisions
of the general law of this state; to unite its road with any of said roads,
and to enter upon the grounds of such railroad companies with the neces-
sary turnouts, sidings, switches and conveniences in furtherance of the
objects of its construction, as well as to facilitate the economical ex-
change of passengers and traffic between the respective roads: provided,
that the acquisition of any real estate of another company shall be in the
mode prescribed by the laws of the state. Nothing in this act contained
shall be construed as authorizing said company “to cross, intersect or
otherwise interfere with the yards of any work of internal improve-
ment at Newport News.

8. It shall be lawful for said company to consolidate with, or to
lease or purchase the works, property, franchises, and privileges of any
other railroad company now existing, or hereafter built, in this state, not
a parallel or competing line, or it may consolidate with, lease, purchase,
or acquire the works, property, franchises and privileges of any other
railroad outside of this state, whose lines will thereby be made to con-
nect with or be operative in connection with the railroad hereby author-
ized to be built; and any railroad company heretofore or hereafter in-
corporated in this state, the line of which connects with or will connect
with, or which runs in the same general direction, and may be made a
part “of the main line of the railroad hereby incorporated and authorized
to be constructed, is hereby authorized to sell, lease, or convey its works,
property, franchises, and privileges to the Norfolk and Northern rail-
road company, on such terms as the stockholders of the respective corpo-
rations or the legally constituted authorities of said respective corpora-
tions shall agree.

9. The incorporators named in this act shall constitute the board of
directors for the first year, and shall continue in office until their suc-
cessors shall be elected and qualified. They shall have the power and
authority of a president and board of directors for the purpose of organ-
ization, and all other purposes incidental thereto. They shall elect one
of their number president of the board, and may appoint such officers as
they may deem proper. They shall fill any vacancy in the board or in
the office of the president, and may receive subscriptions to the capital
stock of the company.

Whenever the minimum amount of the capital stock shall have been
subscribed, the board of directors shall proceed to organize the company
by the election of a president, secretary, treasurer, and such other officers
and agents as may be required.

The said company shall then be considered legally organized, and shall
have all the general powers conferred upon corporations and chartered
companies by the laws of this state, and shall be subject to all the pro-
visions thereof, except so far as the same are modified by or are inconsis-
tent with this act.

10. The board of directors of said company is authorized at any meet-
ing, when a majority of the directors are present, if they deem it advisa-
ble, to change the name of said company.

11. The work on said railroad shall be commenced within two years,
and shall be completed within five years from the passage of this act.

12. All taxes due the commonwealth of Virginia by said company shall
be paid in lawful money of the United States and not in coupons.

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