The Lichfield route through to Huddlesford Junction was opened on 8 May 1797, but the company faced financial difficulties, partly caused by shareholders failing to honour the calls on their shares. In April 1798, the company announced that the Hay Head branch could not be finished, becaue of lack of funds, but somehow they managed to fund the rest of the work, which was completed by April 1799. They borrowed £1,000 in May 1801, to enable work on the Hay Head branch to resume, but it was still not finished one year later. In July 1800, the accounts showed that there were £3,120 of arrears due to shareholders failing to pay calls. However, they issued their first dividend of £2 per share in November, which resulted in most of the arrears being paid up subsequently. There were also problems with water supply, in part caused by leakage into mines, which resulted in there being insufficient water in some of the pounds. Water was obtained by draining Norton Bog near Chase Water, but the company faced additional difficultites in 1799 when the dam of the Sneyd reservoir failed, causing considerable damage as the water surged through Shenstone, Hopwas and Drayton. Matters were finally resolved when the reservoir at Cannock Chase was completed, around 1800.