 Evidently there had been a cooling off over building the line at all, for the directors addressed the shareholders reminding them of the advantages of the connection to Bo'ness, emphasising that at the time the Monkland company had no ultimate terminal of their own, relying on onward conveyance by other railways or by canals.The powers for land acquisition under the Act were close to being out of time.Even then there was dubiety over the profitability of the new line, but this was laid to rest when John Wilson, owner of the Kinneil iron works, guaranteed annual traffic to the value of £3,000, and at a shareholders' meeting on 12 June 1849—fourteen days before the land purchase powers were due to lapse—the decision to actually build the line was taken—but even now this was subject to getting Wilson's undertaking properly formalised.