Report of the Hoosac Tunnel and Troy and Greenfield Railroad, by the Joint Standing Committee of 1866

Sect. 4. The preceding sections shall be in lieu of and be substituted for sections two and three of chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, and the second section of said act is hereby repealed.

Sect. 5. The time for completing the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel, is hereby extended until December thirty-first, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.

Sect. 6. Subscriptions, the instalments upon which are payable in cash, or in the scrip of the towns authorized to subscribe to the stock of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, under the provisions of chapter three hundred and ninety-four of the acts of the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, shall be considered as unconditional subscriptions, in compliance with the requirements of this act; and payment in the bonds of said towns shall be considered as cash.

Sect. 7. This act shall take effect, whenever said company shall file, in the office of the secretary of state, a certified copy of any vote or votes accepting the same, which may be passed at any regular meeting of the stockholders of said company, or at any meeting specially called for that purpose.

Approved March 26, 1859.

[1860.—Chapter 202.]

An Act in addition to an Act authorizing a loan of the State Credit to enable the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company to construct the Hoosac Tunnel.

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

Sect. 1. The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall forthwith make and file in the proper offices a location of their entire road and tunnel, which location shall be made on that side or sides of the Deerfield River which will afford the most direct and eligible route between the village of Shelburne Falls and a suitable terminus in the town of Deerfield or Greenfield, to be determined by the state engineer appointed as hereinafter provided.

The grades of any part of the road hereafter to be constructed shall not exceed forty feet to the mile ascending eastward, and fifty feet to the mile ascending westward; and the limits of grade and curvature of said road, included within said location; and not graded, shall be such that the maximum resistance to the passage of trains, in either direction, shall not exceed the maximum resistance in the same direction on the Fitchburg and Vermont and Massachusetts Railroads; and before any location made by the chief engineer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall be filed, a copy of the alignment and a table of grades, verified by the oath of said engineer, shall be submitted to a state engineer appointed as hereinafter provided, who shall certify that the limits of grade and curvature herein before prescribed have not been exceeded, and the said table of grades so certified shall be filed with the location.

Sect. 2. No further deliveries of scrip shall be made to said company upon the conditions authorized in former acts, but the undelivered portions of the loan of two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four, amounting to one million seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars, shall be divided and apportioned between the railroad and tunnel, and for the construction of each, respectively; six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the completion of the unfinished portion of railroad extending from the eastern terminus of said road near Greenfield to within half a mile of the eastern-end of Hoosac Tunnel, and one million one hundred and twenty thousand dollars for the completion of the tunnel, which shall be delivered upon the conditions and in the manner hereinafter declared, subject however to the provisions of the third section of chapter one hundred and seventeen of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-nine.

No delivery of any portion of said scrip shall be made until said company shall, at a special meeting duly authorized for the purpose, have assented to the provisions of this act, nor until said company shall have duly made and located their line of road as aforesaid, and shall have executed to the Commonwealth such further bond and mortgage, or other assurances of title on their franchise, railroad, or other property, as the attorney-general shall prescribe, for the further security of the Commonwealth; and said bond and mortgage, and other assurances, and all bonds, mortgages, or other assurances heretofore made to the Commonwealth by said company, shall have priority to and be preferred before any and all attachments or levies on execution heretofore or hereafter made.

Sect. 3. The governor and council shall annually appoint a state engineer for the purpose of examining and determining monthly the amount and value of the work done, and materials delivered on the railroad and tunnel of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, who shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, payable quarterly. The state engineer shall forthwith fix permanent marks in each end of the Hoosac Tunnel, marking the progress of the work up to February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and sixty, from which to determine the progress subsequently made. He shall also determine by suitable notes, marks, or observations, the amount and value of all grading, bridging, masonry, or other work done, or iron, or other materials delivered on the road east of the Hoosac Tunnel prior to December twenty-second, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and fix data from which to determine the value of any work, or materials delivered subsequent to the date last named. He shall monthly, immediately after the first day of each month, estimate the proportion which the work done upon the road, since the preceding estimate, bears to the whole of the work required to be done in the graduation, masonry, bridging, and superstructure of said railroad east of the Hoosac Tunnel, and also the work done in the excavation of said tunnel, which he shall certify separately to the governor, together with the amount of state scrip to which the company is entitled under the provisions of this act. Such monthly estimates shall be based upon a width of road-bed at grade of fifteen feet, on embankments, seventeen and a half feet in side-cuts, and twenty feet in thorough-cuts; in the heading of the tunnel, upon dimensions fourteen feet wide and six feet high in the middle, and in the finished excavation of the tunnel of fourteen feet wide and eighteen feet high in the middle.

The deliveries of scrip shall be at the rate of fifty dollars for each lineal foot of tunnel, divided between heading and full sized tunnel, in the proportion' of thirty dollars for each lineal foot of heading and twenty dollars per lineal foot for the remaining excavation; and of six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the whole of the graduation, masonry, bridging and superstructure of the unfinished portion of the road east of the tunnel.

The scrip shall be delivered on the road in the proportion which the value of the work done and the materials delivered each month bears to the estimated cost of the whole work and materials required on the portion of road aforesaid.

No expenditures shall be required merely for the purposes of ornament, but the work shall be substantially performed, and the rails shall weigh not less than fifty-six pounds to the lineal yard; for any defective materials or work, a proportionate amount of scrip shall be withheld.

The governor and council shall have a general supervision of the work, and for that purpose shall visit and inspect the same at least once in each year, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient; and they shall have power to correct abuses, remedy defects, and enforce requirements, by withholding scrip or imposing new requirements in such manner as the interest of the Commonwealth shall in their judgment require.

If the governor, upon the receipt of the monthly estimates and certificates of the state engineer, shall approve thereof, he shall transmit the same and his approval thereon to the state treasurer, and the state treasurer shall thereupon deliver the amount of scrip so certified for, to the treasurer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, or to his order, subject to the provisions hereafter mentioned. If he shall not approve thereof he shall submit the same to the council, and their approval transmitted to the state treasurer as aforesaid shall authorize such delivery.

Sect. 4. The company shall at least thirty days before any interest on any state scrip delivered to said company becomes payable, transmit the amount thereof, with costs of exchange, to the treasurer of the state, and he shall in all cases and at the charge of said company, pay at maturity all interest and costs of exchange which become payable on said scrip where the same is payable; and if said interest and exchange and all interest and costs thereon, or any payments required to be made into the sinking fund, or interest thereon, or any part thereof, remain unpaid when said company becomes entitled to the next delivery of state scrip, then the state treasurer shall deduct the amount so remaining unpaid, with all costs and interest thereon, from the amount of scrip then deliverable.

Sect. 5. The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company may construct their railroad across the public highways at grade, in cases where the county commissioners of the county do not determine such manner of crossing to be detrimental to the public safety and convenience; but whenever they do so determine, said company shall construct the same in such manner as the county commissioners direct.

Sect. 6. The legislature shall immediately after the passage of this act, elect two directors of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, to hold their office for one year, or until others are elected by the legislature; and any city, town or corporation that may subscribe not less than one hundred thousand dollars, shall have the right to elect annually one director; and any city that may subscribe not less than five hundred thousand dollars, shall have the right to elect annually by their council two directors in said company, which election may be held at any time after such subscription is made.

Sect. 7. The capital stock of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall consist of twenty-five thousand shares of the par value of one hundred dollars each, in which shall be included all shares heretofore issued or subscribed for, conditionally or unconditionally, or payable in work, an accurate account of which shall be made by the company, and recorded in the records of the directors. And the residue of said shares, and all shares which may revert to said company, shall be hereafter issued only at par value, and for cash, or town or city scrip, or for the bonds of the company.

Sect. 8. The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company is hereby authorized and required to purchase the entire road, franchise, stock, bonds, and other property of the Southern Vermont Railroad Company, together with the income, benefits and reversion of its lease to the Troy and Boston Railroad Company, and subject to its provisions, for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars; and for the purpose of enabling them to make such purchase, and transfer the same to the Commonwealth as additional security to the Commonwealth for its whole loan, a further issue and loan of state Scrip in federal currency; of the description specified in chapter two hundred and twenty-six, of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, is hereby authorized to be made, to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars, deliverable as follows, namely:

Whenever all the capital stock of the Southern Vermont Railroad, excepting not exceeding twenty shares, of one hundred dollars each, and one hundred thousand dollars of its mortgage bonds, with coupons attached, the whole amount being one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, payable in twenty years from the date of issue, with six per cent. interest, payable semi-annually at the Bank of Commerce, in the city of New York, and the aforesaid lease of said company to the Troy and Boston Railroad Company, together with the rent reserved therein of twelve thousand dollars per annum, payable semi-annually, shall have been transferred to the treasurer of the Commonwealth, for the future security of the Commonwealth for its whole loan of credit to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, in such manner as the attorney-general shall prescribe, and to the satisfaction of the governor and council, the state treasurer shall deliver one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars of said scrip to the treasurer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company; and when the remaining portion of said bonds, with the coupons attached, shall be in like manner delivered to the state treasurer, he shall deliver to the treasurer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company the balance of said scrip, amounting to seventy-five thousand dollars: provided, that if any holders of said bonds, not exceeding ten thousand dollars in all, shall refuse to surrender the same at par, the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall not be required to purchase the same, but the state treasurer shall withhold an equal amount of state scrip at par in lieu thereof.

The semi-annual payments of the coupons, with the balance of the income from the lease of the Southern Vermont Railroad, shall be collected by or paid to the state treasurer, who shall therefrom pay the interest on the two hundred thousand dollars of five per cent. scrip herein authorized to be issued, and shall pay the balance to the commissioners of the sinking fund of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad loan, to be by them from time to time invested as is now by law required.

The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company shall, as soon as may be after the passage of this act, procure from the legislature of the slate of Vermont the requisite authority for purchasing, holding and mortgaging to the Commonwealth the franchise, railroad and property of the Southern Vermont Railroad Company, according to the provisions of this act; and in case such authority shall not be granted, and any want of security by reason thereof accrue to the Commonwealth, the governor and council shall withhold from the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company portions of scrip constituting the last deliveries to be made on the completion of the tunnel, to such amount, not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, as may be required for further security.

Sect. 9. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed: provided, however, that such repeal shall not, and nothing contained in this act shall, have effect or be construed in anyway to release or impair any security which the Commonwealth now has or may hereafter have by force of the bond and mortgage now held by the Commonwealth on the franchise, railroad and property of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company.

Approved April 4, 1860.

[1862.—Chapter 156.]

An Act providing for the more speedy completion of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel.

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

Sect. 1. The governor, with the advice of the council, is hereby authorized and directed to appoint three able, impartial and skilful commissioners to investigate the subject of finishing the Troy and Greenfield Railroad, and of tunneling the Hoosac Mountain, whose duty it shall be to report to the governor and council what, in their judgment, will be the most economical, practical and advantageous method of completing said road and tunnel, the estimated cost of fitting the same for use, the time within which the tunnel can be completed, and what contracts can be effected, and with what parties, for completing said tunnel and road, and the probable cost of the same, the probable pecuniary value of the road and tunnel when completed, the sources and amount of traffic and income, and all other facts in their opinion useful to assist the governor and council in determining the best method of securing a continuous railroad communication between Troy and Greenfield.

Sect. 2. The Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company is hereby authorized to surrender to the slate, the property now mortgaged; but the right of redemption shall not be barred until ten years have elapsed after said road and tunnel are completed and the same open for use. The said commissioners shall immediately, in the name of the Commonwealth, take complete possession under the mortgages to the Commonwealth, given by the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company, of all property, rights and interests intended to be conveyed by said mortgages, or either of them, and then shall, without unnecessary delay, cause the said railroad to be completed and put into running order, and supplied with suitable depots, turn-tables and other usual and necessary appliances for the reception of freight and passenger cars, from the eastern terminus of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad to the Hoosac Tunnel.

Sect. 3. Said commissioners shall audit and allow all just claims for labor, service, materials, land-damages incurred after April sixth, eighteen hundred and sixty, and before July twelfth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, in carrying on the work of constructing the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel, and may procure the release of all attachments and discharge all liens on said materials. The accounts thus audited shall be transmitted to the governor, and, if approved by the governor and council, the governor is hereby directed to draw his warrant upon the treasurer in favor of the claimants, for the amounts thus allowed, to an amount not exceeding one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

Sect. 4. Said commissioners are hereby authorized, with consent of the governor and council, to use or run that portion of said road east of the Hoosac Mountain, or lease the same to the "Vermont and Massachusetts," the "Fitchburg," the "Troy and Boston Railroad Company," or either of them, until the completion of the said tunnel.

Sect. 5. Said commissioners shall have authority, with the approval of the governor and council, to continue the work on the Hoosac Tunnel, and by contract or otherwise, to expedite the completion of said tunnel.

Sect. 6. All the net earnings and income derived from said railroad, including the tunnel, shall be held by the Commonwealth in trust: first, for the payment and reimbursement of the interest on all loans, advancements and disbursements of the Commonwealth, on account of said railroad or tunnel: second, for the payment and reimbursement to all parties having a legal right thereto.

Sect. 7. The governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the Commonwealth, for such sums as may be required from time to time by the commissioners for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, and the amount of the same is hereby appropriated therefore; and the treasurer of the Commonwealth is hereby authorized to issue scrip, or certificates of debts, in the name and in behalf of the Commonwealth, to an extent sufficient to secure the required funds, which scrip shall bear such rate of interest, as is allowed at the time on state scrip issued for other purposes, and shall be redeemable at the end of thirty years from the date thereof; and he shall sell or otherwise use the same at his discretion, to procure the sum necessary to meet the payments in this act provided: provided, that all expenditures and advances made under and by virtue of this act, shall be on account, and form part of the two millions of dollars, authorized to be loaned in state scrip to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four; and said expenditures and advances, together with all sums hitherto advanced to said company, excepting the sums advanced on account of the "Southern Vermont Railroad," shall not exceed in amount the said two millions of dollars. Such changes may be made in the location and grades of the road, as may be necessary to improve the same; and no lease shall be made of the portion of the road east of the tunnel for a term exceeding six years; nor shall such portion be constructed without the approval of the governor and council.

Sect. 8. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed.

Sect. 9. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved April 28, 1862.

[1863.—Chapter 214.]

An Act in addition to "an Act providing for the more speedy completion of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel."

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

Sect. 1. The commissioners appointed under the one hundred and fifty-sixth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, are hereby authorized, subject to the advice and approval of the governor and council, to construct, complete and equip the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel; and to make such alterations in the line of said road as may be deemed necessary to render it suitable and proper for part of a thorough line from Troy to Boston; also such alterations in the location and dimensions of said tunnel as will render it suitable and proper for use, in accordance with the spirit and intent of the two hundred and twenty-sixth chapter of the acts of eighteen hundred and fifty-four.

Sect. 2. The governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer of the Commonwealth for such sums as may be required from time to time by said commissioners for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act, and the act or acts to which this is in addition; and there is accordingly hereby appropriated for the purpose of constructing and completing said tunnel and railroad and equipping the the same, and paying interest upon such scrip, as has been or may be issued during the progress of the work, the unexpended balance of the two millions of dollars authorized by chapter two hundred and twenty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and fifty-four, and referred to in chapter one hundred and fifty-six of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-two. And the treasurer of the Commonwealth is hereby authorized, upon the warrant of the governor drawn as aforesaid, to issue scrip or certificates of debt to the amount of said appropriation, which shall be expressed in such currency and shall bear such rate of interest as the governor and council may direct, and shall be redeemable at the end of thirty years from the date thereof: and said treasurer shall sell or otherwise dispose of the same as he may deem proper, subject to the approval of the governor and council.

Sect. 3. Said commissioners', and their successors in office, shall be removable by the governor, with the advice of the council, and in case of any vacancy occasioned by death; resignation or removal, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment of the governor, with the advice of the council; and said commissioners shall, once in three months, and oftener if required, present to the governor and council an account of all contracts entered into by them as such commissioners, and of all payments and charges by them made, by virtue of their commission, with their vouchers therefore, which vouchers and accounts shall be examined, and if found correct, and in good faith, shall be allowed by the governor and council; but no lease of any part of said railroad, nor any contract amounting to more than ten thousand dollars shall be made by said commissioners without the of the governor and council.

Sect. 4. Said commissioners in altering the location of the line of said road shall have the same power as railroad corporations have in making locations under existing laws, and may take, by purchase or otherwise, such lands, or easements therein, as may be needed for any purposes connected with the construction of said tunnel, and all titles or easements so taken shall vest in the Commonwealth; and all parties aggrieved by any action of said commissioners, under this section, may have their damages assessed in the manner provided by law for the assessment of damages against railroad corporations; and all damages so assessed shall be paid from the treasury of the Commonwealth to the party entitled thereto, upon the warrant of the governor, drawn pursuant to the provisions of this act.

Sect. 5. Said commissioners, subject to the approval of the governor and council, shall have the power to use a part of the money appropriated by this act, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to extinguish any liens or claims, or rights of redemption which any person or corporation may have, in order to perfect the title of the Commonwealth to said railroad and tunnel.

Sect. 6. The contract executed by the Troy and Boston Railroad Company, on the eighteenth day of February, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, by the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Company on the twentieth day of said February, and by the Fitchburg Railroad Company on the twenty-third day of said month, printed on pages eighty-eight to ninety-four, inclusive, of the report of said commissioners made on the twenty-eighth day of February, aforesaid, and referred to in the message of the governor, dated the twelfth day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-three, is hereby approved, ratified and confirmed.

Sect. 7. The compensation or said commissioners shall be fixed by the governor, with the advice of the council; but the compensation of the chairman of said commissioners shall in no event exceed the sum of five thousand dollars per annum, nor shall the entire compensation of all of said commissioners exceed the sum of seven thousand dollars per annum.

Approved April 29, 1868.