At the same time the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway had set about transforming itself from a northern industrial concern into a trunk line, and it planned to reach London. Sir Edward Watkin was the chairman of the MS&LR and also of the Metropolitan Railway, serving areas north and west of London, and he planned to join these lines. The MS&LR obtained Parliamentary powers for the line, from the southern end of its network at Annesley (near Mansfield) to Quainton Road, in 1893.