The following list sets out to show all the railway companies set up by Acts of Parliament in the 19th century before 1860. Most of them became constituent parts of the emerging main-line railway companies, often immediately after being built. Some continued as independent companies until the 1923 Grouping; a few retained that independence until 1947. They have been listed under Scottish; and English and Welsh early railways; and under the later main line company which absorbed them.