A foreclosure against a railway company presents an added problem, for even during these proceedings the road must continue in operation in the interest of the public which uses the system, and also for the benefit of the bondholders who wish to recover their money. In this situation it is customary to form a committee of the principal security holders whose personal standing will inspire confidence. This group drafts plans for the rehabilitation of the defaulted railroad, and as a first step requests all holders of securities to surrender them to a trust company which is designated as "depository under reorganization agreement." In administering this trust, the fiduciary company is really acting as stakeholder or, in the legal term, as agent in "escrow." This has been defined as an "instrument placed by a grantor in the hands of a third party to be delivered to a grantee upon the fulfillment by the latter of a certain specified condition." In the class of escrow being now considered, the grantors, or the owners of the defaulted securities, place them in the custody of the trust company, which in turn surrenders them to the members of the reorganization committee as grantees. The trust company gives the owners ternporary receipts for their securities and later, in a manner quite similar to the transferring and registering of original bonds, formal instruments known as certificates of deposit. If the work of reorganization is successfully performed, the trust company calls for the return of the certificates of deposit and, in exchange, issues new securities. At times it may be good policy to merge the railway with a stronger road, and then the trust company acts as depository of the securities under a plan of consolidation.