the works were £1 million, in addition to which the existing waterways would need to be acquired. The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Canal Company Ltd was registered on 15 November 1888, with the aim of obtaining an Act of Parliament to authorise this work. The Act was passed on 26 August 1889, which created the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Co., who had powers to raise £1.5 million, and to buy the four South Yorkshire canals, consisting of the Sheffield Canal, the River Don Navigation, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal and the Dearne and Dove Canal. They had nine months to negotiate with the railway owners, and could resort to compulsory purchase after that. In order to demonstrate their resolve, £20,000 had to be deposited within six months of the date of the Act. By this stage, the plan was to enlarge the waterways to enable 300 or 400 ton barges to navigate, but also to make the locks suitable for compartment boat trains, as used on the Aire and Calder. New facilities would be built at Keadby, where the canal joined the River Trent, so that coal could be trans-shipped to larger vessels. Negotiations with the railway company began, but they refused to co-operate, instead waiting nine months until the compulsory purchase option was possible, and then taking court action against the Canal company once the purchase order was served. The Canal company sought assistance from the Court of the Railway and Canal Commission, who ruled in their favour, and the railway company finally produced the details of their ownership in early 1891. The concept of using compartment boats led to discussions with the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, as a result of which it was decided to abandon the plan to develop Keadby, and instead use the existing port facilities at Goole. As the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Company had yet to take control of any canals, an agreement was negotiated, which would see the Aire and Calder obtaining an Act of Parliament to authorise construction of a straight canal from Bramwith on the River Don to a point some above Goole. The Act was obtained on 28 July 1891, and specified that the S&SYN could become joint owners and subscribers, once they had acquired the four waterways from the railway company. Transfer of the canals was finally agreed on 31 July 1894, at a cost to the