| Act of Parliament | In the context of British railways, an Act of Parliament is legislation that permits the construction and operation of the proposed railway. An Act would typically include the right to compulsory purchase land along the specified route and for the various engineering works to be carried out. If construction wasn't completed within a set time, the powers under the Act would lapse and a new Act (or an extension) would need to be obtained. To obtain an Act, the promoters of a railway must first obtain sufficient undertakings of financial support before presenting the proposal to the Houses of Parliament. The proposal would be considered by various committees and any rival schemes assessed and, in some cases, modifications made to the proposal to satisfy any objecting parties. The proposal would then be presented to both the House of Commons and the House of Lords for approval. |
Carrying Wheel | Any locomotive wheel not connected to the pistons, and which are used simply to support the weight of the engine. British classification of wheel arrangements on steam locomotives uses a X-Y-Z format where X=the leading carrying wheels, Y=the driving wheels and Z=the trailing carrying wheels. A 2-4-0 wheel arrangement therefore describes a locomotive that has one leading wheel, two driving wheels (coupled) and no trailing wheel on each side of the locomotive. |
| Driving Wheel | Any wheel connected to the locomotive's pistons, and which therefore drives the train. British classification of wheel arrangements on steam locomotives uses a X-Y-Z format where X=the leading carrying wheels, Y=the driving wheels and Z=the trailing carrying wheels. A 2-4-0 wheel arrangement therefore describes a locomotive that has one leading wheel, two driving wheels (coupled) and no trailing wheel on each side of the locomotive. |
| Gauge | The width between the rails. Early British colliery railways were built (for reasons unknown) to a gauge of 4ft 8ins (1.44 metres). The world's first passenger railway, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, used this gauge (adding half an inch for some unrecorded reason), and 4ft 8½ins became known as the "standard gauge". As most early railways connected with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, of necessity, they adopted the same gauge. Brunel convinced the Great Western Railway that the benefits of being able to run faster trains on a wider (7ft 0¼ins (2.15 metre)) gauge outweighed the inconvenience of having a change of gauge at junctions. |
| Lease |
A lease is an arrangement whereby one railway company would supply and operate locomotives and rolling stock to provide a train service for another railway in exchange for a fixed sum of money per train-mile. The exact conditions and length of leases varied, and in some cases included providing staff for stations and depots. Traffic revenue would go to the owning company, who would use the income to pay the lease and any other operating costs, and for maintenance of the track and engineering works. Any surplus could then be paid in dividend to its shareholders.
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| Shareholders |
A railway company wanting to build a line would raise the money required by a combination of borrowing money and issuing shares. Railway company shares were usually issued "partly paid", meaning a shareholder would subscribe for, say, a £20 share but only be required to pay a small amount of it at first. Later, as construction of the railway began, the company would make "calls" on its shareholders requiring them to pay some of the unpaid amount on the shares for which they had subscribed. If a shareholder failed to pay a "call", then their shares were forfeited and the company could reissue them to another subscriber (if it could find one). Profits from the railway would be paid to shareholders by way of a dividend. Some railways issued "Preference shares", which guaranteed payment of a fixed dividend to "Preference" shareholders before payment of any dividend to "Ordinary" shareholders.
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