The North Staffordshire Railway opened its station at Uttoxeter in 1848, while the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company opened its line to Wellington from Stafford in 1849, making the link between the two even more logical.
In support of the line were the growing shoe-making industry in Stafford and the Leighton Ironworks in Uttoxeter, of the Bamford family, forebears of J. C. Bamford.