EARLY DAYS OF RAILWAYS. 449 



ing the monopoly which it appeared railways would 

 establish, power was given in some of the earlier 

 Acts of Parliament for persons to run their own 

 locomotives and carriages on the companies' lines, and 

 this was in some instances actually exercised ; but 

 the companies practically possessed a monopoly of 

 carriage on their lines, as by fixing their toUs at their 

 maximum, it would not answer for persons to provide 

 their own locomotives ; moreover the companies 

 could regulate the hours of starting, were not bound 

 to allow the use of their signals and stations, to 

 provide water for the locomotives, or otherwise to 

 give the assistance of their servants or watchmen, 

 so that although not an impossibility, no persons 

 could advantageously work their own locomotives 

 on railway companies' lines. 



To counteract the monopoly of carrying passengers, 

 which it very soon became apparent companies virtu- 

 ally possessed, as also to afford a certain and inex- 

 pensive means of travelling to those who had been in 

 the habit of using the stage-waggons, carriers' carts, 

 or other cheap means of transit, the Government 

 saw the necessity of substituting some alternative 

 for these customary modes which the railways had 

 stopped, and hence the trains called ' Parliamentary ' 

 were established by Act of Parliament in 1844, 

 which provided that the carriages should be protected 



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