Coal was already extracted on a small scale in New Monkland, north and east of Airdrie and not directly accessible to the M&KR, and Thomas Grainger, the engineer of the M&KR, prepared a pamphlet proposing a railway from the New Monkland pits to connect with the M&KR. Construction was promised to be cheap, and an Act of Parliament of 5 May 1826 authorised the construction by a new company, the "Ballochney Railway Company", with share capital of £18,425 and borrowing powers of £10,000.