Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845

Passengers and Goods on Railway

And with respect to the carrying of Passengers and Goods upon the Railway, and the Tolls to be taken thereon, be it enacted as follows :

LXXXVI Company to employ locomotive Power, Carriages, &c.

It shall be lawful for the Company to use and employ locomotive Engines or other moving Power, and Carriages and Waggons to be drawn or propelled thereby, and to carry and convey upon the Railway all such Passengers and Goods as shall be offered to them for that Purpose, and to make such reasonable Charges in respect thereof as they may from Time to Time determine upon, not exceeding the Tolls by the Special Act authorized to be taken by them.

LXXXVII Company empowered to contract with other Companies.

It shall be lawful for the Company from Time to Time to enter into any Contract with any other Company, being the Owners or Lessees or in possession of any other Railway, for the Passage over or along the Railway by the Special Act authorized to be made of any Engines, Coaches, Waggons, or other Carriages of any other Company, or which shall pass over any other Line of Railway, or for the Passage over any other Line of Railway of any Engines, Coaches, Waggons, or other Carriages of the Company, or which shall pass over their Line of Railway, upon the Payment of such Tolls and under such Conditions and Restrictions as may be mutually agreed upon; and for the Purpose aforesaid it shall be lawful for the respective Parties to enter into any Contract for the Division or Apportionment of the Tolls to be taken upon their respective Railways.

LXXXVIII Contracts not to affect Persons not Parties thereto.

Provided always, That no such Contract as aforesaid shall in any Manner alter, affect, increase, or diminish any of the Tolls which the respective Companies, Parties to such Contracts, shall for the Time being be respectively authorized and entitled to demand or receive from any Person or any other Company, but that all other Persons and Companies shall, notwithstanding any such Contract, be entitled to the Use and Benefit of any of the said Railways, upon the same Terms and Conditions, and on Payment of the same Tolls, as they would have been in case no such Contract had been entered into.

LXXXIX Company not to be liable to a greater Extent than Common Carriers.

Nothing in this or the Special Act contained shall extend to charge or make liable the Company further or in any other Case than where, according to the Laws of the Realm, Stage Coach Proprietors and Common Carriers would be liable, nor shall extend in any Degree to deprive the Company of any Protection or Privilege which Common Carriers or Stage Coach Proprietors may be entitled to; but, on the contrary, the Company shall at all Times be entitled to the Benefit of every such Protection and Privilege.

XC Power to vary Tolls. Tolls to be charged equally under like Circumstances.

And whereas it is expedient that the Company should be enabled to vary the Tolls upon the Railway so as to accommodate them to the Circumstances of the Traffic, but that such Power of varying should not be used for the Purpose of prejudicing or favouring particular Parties, or for the Purpose of collusively and unfairly creating a Monopoly, either in the Hands of the Company or of particular Parties : It shall be lawful, therefore, for the Company, subject to the Provisions and Limitations herein and in the Special Act contained, from Time to Time to alter or vary the Tolls by the Special Act authorized to be taken, either upon the whole or upon any particular Portions of the Railway, as they shall think fit; provided that all such Tolls be at all Times charged equally to all Persons, and after the same Rate, whether per Ton per Mile or otherwise, in respect of all Passengers, and of all Goods or Carriages of the same Description, and conveyed or propelled by a like Carriage or Engine, passing only over the same Portion of the Line of Railway under the same Circumstances; and no Reduction or Advance in any such Tolls shall be made either directly or indirectly in favour of or against any particular Company or Person travelling upon or using the Railway.

XCI How Tolls to be calculated where Railways amalgamated.

And whereas Authority has been given by various Acts of Parliament to Railway Companies to demand Tolls for the Conveyance of Passengers and Goods and for other Services over the Fraction of a Mile equal to the Toll which they are authorized to demand for One Mile : Therefore, in Cases in which any Railway shall be amalgamated with any other adjoining Railway or Railways, such Tolls shall be calculated and imposed at such Rates as if such amalgamated Railways had originally formed One Line of Railway.

XCII Railway to be free on Payment of Tolls.

It shall not be lawful for the Company at any Time to demand or take a greater Amount of Toll, or make any greater Charge for the Carriage of Passengers or Goods, than they are by this and the Special Act authorized to demand; and upon Payment of the Tolls from Time to Time demandable all Companies and Persons shall be entitled to use the Railway, with Engines and Carriages properly constructed as by this and the Special Act directed, subject nevertheless to the Provisions and Restrictions of the said [5 & 6 Vict. c. 55.] Act of the Sixth Year of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act for the better Regulation of Railways, and for the Conveyance of Troops, and to the Regulations to be from Time to Time made by the Company by virtue of the Powers in that Behalf hereby and by the Special Act conferred upon them.

XCIII List of Tolls to be exhibited on a Board.

A List of all the Tolls authorized by the Special Act to be taken, and which shall be exacted by the Company, shall be published by the same being painted upon One Toll Board or more in distinct Black Letters on a White Ground, or White Letters on a Black Ground, or by the same being printed in legible Characters on Paper affixed to such Board, and by such Board being exhibited in some conspicuous Place on the Stations or Places where such Tolls shall be made payable.

XCIV Milestones.

The Company shall cause the Length of the Railway to be measured, and Milestones, Posts, or other conspicuous Objects to be set up and maintained along the whole Line thereof, at the Distance of One Quarter of a Mile from each other, with Numbers or Marks inscribed thereon denoting such Distances.

XCV Tolls to be taken only whilst Board exhibited and Milestones set up.

No Tolls shall be demanded or taken by the Company for the Use of the Railway during any Time at which the Boards hereinbefore directed to be exhibited shall not be so exhibited, or at which the Milestones herein-before directed to be set up and maintained shall not be so set up and maintained; and if any Person wilfully pull down, deface, or destroy any such Board or Milestone, he shall forfeit a Sum not exceeding Five Pounds for every such Offence.

XCVI Tolls to be paid as directed by the Company.

The Tolls shall be paid to such Persons, and at such Places upon or near to the Railway, and in such Manner and under such Regulations, as the Company shall, by Notice to be annexed to the Lists of Tolls, appoint.

XCVII In default of Payment of Tolls, Goods, &c. may tee detained and sold.

If, on Demand, any Person fail to pay the Tolls due in respect of any Carriage or Goods, it shall be lawful for the Company to detain and sell such Carriage, or all or any Part of such Goods, or, if the same shall have been removed from the Premises of the Company, to detain and sell any other Carriages or Goods, within such Premises belonging to the Party liable to pay such Tolls, and out of the Monies arising from such Sale to retain the Tolls payable as aforesaid, and all Charges and Expenses of such Detention and Sale, rendering the Overplus, if any, of the Monies arising by such Sale, and such of the Carriages or Goods as shall remain unsold, to the Person entitled thereto, or it shall be lawful for the Company to recover any such Tolls by Action at Law.

XCVIII Account of Lading, &c. to be given.

Every Person being the Owner or having the Care of any Carriage or Goods passing or being upon the Railway shall, on Demand, give to the Collector of Tolls, at the Places where he attends for the Purpose of receiving Goods or of collecting Tolls for the Part of the Railway on which such Carriage or Goods may have travelled or be about to travel, an exact Account in Writing signed by him of the Number or Quantity of Goods conveyed by any such Carriage, and of the Point on the Railway from which such Carriage or Goods have set out or are about to set out, and at what Point the same are intended to be unloaded or taken off the Railway; and if the Goods conveyed by any such Carriage, or brought for Conveyance as aforesaid, be liable to the Payment of different Tolls, then such Owner or other Person shall specify the respective Numbers or Quantities thereof liable to each or any of such Tolls.

XCIX Penalty for not giving Account of Lading.

If any such Owner or other such Person fail to give such Account, or to produce his Way-bill or Bill of Lading, to such Collector or other Officer or Servant of the Company demanding the same, or if he give a false Account, or if he unload or take off any Part of his Lading or Goods at any other Place than shall be mentioned in such Account, with Intent to avoid the Payment of any Tolls payable in respect thereof, he shall for every such Offence forfeit to the Company a Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds for every Ton of Goods, or for any Parcel not exceeding One Hundredweight, and so in proportion for any less Quantity of Goods than One Ton, or for any Parcel exceeding One Hundredweight, (as the Case may be,) which shall be upon any such Carriage; and such Penalty shall be in addition to the Toll to which such Goods may be liable.

C Disputes as to Amount of Tolls chargeable.

If any Dispute arise concerning the Amount of the Tolls due to the Company, or concerning the Charges occasioned by any Detention or Sale thereof, under the Provisions herein or in the Special Act contained, the same shall be settled by a Justice; and it shall be lawful for the Company in the meanwhile to detain the Goods, or (if the Case so require) the Proceeds of the Sale thereof.

CI Differences as to Weights, &c.

If any Difference arise between any Toll Collector or other Officer or Servant of the Company and any Owner of or Person having the Charge of any Carriage passing or being upon the Railway, or of any Goods conveyed or to be conveyed by such Carriage, respecting the Weight, Quantity, Quality, or Nature of such Goods, such Collector or other Officer may lawfully detain such Carriage or Goods, and examine, weigh, gauge, or otherwise measure the same; and if upon such measuring or Examination such Goods appear to be of greater Weight or Quantity or of other Nature than shall have been stated in the Account given thereof, then the Person who shall have given such Account shall pay, and the Owner of such Carriage, or the respective Owners of such Goods, shall also, at the Option of the Company, be liable to pay, the Costs of such measuring and examining ; but if such Goods appear to be of the same or less Weight or Quantity than and of the same Nature as shall have been stated in such Account, then the Company shall pay such Costs, and they shall also pay to such Owner of or Person having Charge of such Carriage, and to the respective Owners of such Goods, such Damage (if any) as shall appear to any Justice, on a summary Application to him for that Purpose, to have arisen from such Detention.

CII Toll Collector to be liable for wrongful Detention of Goods.

If at any Time it be made to appear to any Justice, upon the Complaint of the Company, that any such Detention, measuring, or examining of any Carriage or Goods, as herein-before mentioned, was without reasonable Ground, or that it was vexatious on the Part of such Collector or other Officer, then the Collector or other Officer shall himself pay the Costs of such Detention and measuring, and the Damage occasioned thereby; and in default of immediate Payment of any such Costs or Damage the same may be recovered by Distress of the Goods of such Collector, and such Justice shall issue his Warrant accordingly.

CIII Penalty on Passengers practising Frauds on the Company.

If any Person travel or attempt to travel in any Carriage of the Company, or of any other Company or Party using the Railway, without having previously paid his Fare, and with Intent to avoid Payment thereof, or if any Person having paid his Fare for a certain Distance, knowingly and wilfully proceed in any such Carriage beyond such Distance, without previously paying the additional Fare for the additional Distance, and with Intent to avoid Payment thereof, or if any Person knowingly and wilfully refuse or neglect, on arriving at the Point to which he has paid his Fare, to quit such Carriage, every such Person shall for every such Offence forfeit to the Company a Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings.

CIV Detention of Offenders.

If any Person be discovered, either in or after committing or attempting to commit any such Offence as in the preceding Enactment mentioned, all Officers and Servants and other Persons on behalf of the Company or such other Company or Party as aforesaid, and all Constables, Gaolers, and Peace Officers, may lawfully apprehend and detain such Person until he can conveniently be taken before some Justice, or until he be otherwise discharged by due Course of Law.

CV Penalty for bringing dangerous Goods on the Railway.

No Person shall be entitled to carry or to require the Company to carry, upon the Railway, any Aquafortis, Oil of Vitriol, Gunpowder, Lucifer Matches, or any other Goods which in the Judgment of the Company may be of a dangerous Nature; and if any Person send by the Railway any such Goods without distinctly marking their Nature on the Outside of the Package containing the same, or otherwise giving Notice in Writing to the Book-keeper or other Servant of the Company with whom the same are left, at the Time of so sending, he shall forfeit to the Company Twenty Pounds for every such Offence; and it shall be lawful for the Company to refuse to take any Parcel that they may suspect to contain Goods of a dangerous Nature, or require the same to be opened to ascertain the Pact.

CVI Delivery of Matters in Possession or Custody of Toll Collector at Removal.

If any Collector of Tolls or other Officer employed by the Company be discharged or suspended from his Office, or die, abscond, or absent himself, and if such Collector or other Officer, or the Wife, Widow, or any of the Family or Representatives of any such Collector or other Officer, refuse or neglect, after Seven Days Notice in Writing for that Purpose, to deliver up to the Company or to any Person appointed by them for that Purpose, any Station, Dwelling House, Office, or other Building, with its Appurtenances, or any Books, Papers, or other Matters belonging to the Company in the Possession or Custody of any such Collector or Officer at the Occurrence of any such Event as aforesaid, then, upon Application being made by the Company to any Justice, it shall be lawful for such Justice to order any Constable, with proper Assistance, to enter upon such Station or other Building, and to remove any Person found therein and to take possession thereof, and of any such Books, Papers, or other Matters, and to deliver the same to the Company, or any Person appointed by them for that Purpose.

CVII Annual Account to be made up, and a Copy transmitted to the Clerk of the Peace, &c.

And be it enacted, That the Company shall every Year cause an annual Account in abstract to be prepared, showing the total Receipts and Expenditure of all Funds levied by virtue of this or the Special Act for the Year ending on the Thirty-first Day of December or some other convenient Day in each Year, under the several distinct Heads of Receipt and Expenditure, with a Statement of the Balance of such Account, duly audited and certified by the Directors, or some of them, and by the Auditors, and shall, if required, transmit a Copy of the said Account, free of Charge, to the Overseers of the Poor of the several Parishes through which the Railway shall pass, and also to the Clerks of the Peace of the Counties through which the Railway shall pass, on or before the Thirty-first Day of January then next; which last-mentioned Account shall be open to the Inspection of the Public at all seasonable Hours, on Payment of the Sum of One Shilling for every such Inspection : Provided, always, that if the said Company shall omit to prepare or transmit such Account as aforesaid, if required so to do by any such Clerk of the Peace or Overseers of the Poor, they shall forfeit for every such Omission the Sum of Twenty Pounds.