Origins
Various proposals were put forward for a line through the Churnet Valley in the 1830s and in 1841 plans were published by the Manchester & Derby Railway (Churnet Valley) Company for a line from Macclesfield to Derby via Leek, Cheadle, Rocester and Uttoxeter. At Macclesfield the line would connect with the Grand Junction Railway and at Derby with the North Midland Railway and would result a direct route between Manchester and London. In 1844 the company by now renamed simply the Churnet Valley Railway Company laid out its prospectus for construction of the line in 1844 and following approval of the plan by the Board of Trade preparation was made for the necessary approval of Parliament to be sought.
As the draft bill was being considered by the House of Commons the directors of the company agreed an amalgamation with the Trent Valley Railway and the Staffordshire Potteries Railway to form the Churnet, Potteries and Trent Junction Railway soon to be called the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR). The Churnet Valley bill was withdrawn and in 1846 a new bill was submitted to Parliament entitled the North Staffordshire Railway (Churnet Valley Line) Bill.
The merger of the three companies had not been without opposition and many shareholders of the Churnet Valley company were worried that the Churnet Valley line would become a small adjunct to the other NSR lines between Derby–Crewe and Macclesfield–Colwich. After negotiation it became a stipulation of the bill that the dividend of the NSR could not exceed 5% until the Churnet Valley line was fully open. With this concession granted the bill proceeded through Parliament and received Royal Assent on 26 June 1846. Allocated capital for the lines was £1,200,000.
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