In the 1820s, a number of coal mines opened up in the Kingswinford area, which was just to the north-west of the Fens branch of the Stourbridge Canal.

Although a survey was carried out by Samuel Hodgekinson for a canal or a railway to service the mines, no definite proposals emerged.

This would have started near Fens Pool on the Stourbridge Canal and run via the mines at Shutt End to Straits Green and Cotwallend, before passing through a 1-mile (1.6 km) tunnel at Bloomfield to reach the Birmingham Canal Navigations main line near Factory Junction, where Thomas Telford's new main line left the old one.

c. liii), in June 1837, to authorise the work, it was for a much smaller scheme, running from Brockmoor to Oak Farm, just beyond Shutt End.

One concession made was that they promised to buy the tramway which ran from Corbyn Hall to Brockmoor once the canal was operational.

The 0.3-mile (0.48 km) Bromley Branch left the main line a little above the stop lock, and opened in 1841, although it was not authorised by the enabling act.

The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway was active in the area, and in 1845 applied for an act of Parliament to authorise a number of routes, one of which would run along the banks of the canal.