The first authorisation to construct a railway on the Hoo Peninsula was obtained by a group of local businessmen who sponsored the passing of the North Kent Railway Extension Railway Act in 1865 which provided for the construction of a branch line leaving the South Eastern Railway's Gravesend - Strood line near Shorne Marshes. The line would head eastwards across land north of Cliffe to reach Allhallows, continuing to the Isle of Grain. However, the major railway companies operating in the area, South Eastern Railway (SER) and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) were not interested in the project and as a result it failed to secure the necessary funding.