Promoters of an independent company conducted negotiations with the Cornwall Railway in 1861, regarding the construction of a branch line from that railway at Lostwithiel to a location at Caffamill Pill, Fowey, where deep water berthing was available for shipping. The route would run alongside the River Fowey and so would have gentle gradients and few engineering problems, apart from some bridges across small tributary rivers; new jetties were to be built at Carne Point, a short distance north of Fowey.