 When the Bill was presented in the 1844 Parliamentary session, it contained the statement that "Messrs John and William Johnson are in possession of and claim to be entitled as mortgagees or assignees to the said Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway ... " This was the de facto position, and the P&DR proprietors were unable to have the clause containing the words removed.The section from Plympton to the junction near Marsh Mills was sold to the SDR and closed in 1847 to allow them to construct their main line without the necessity of making a crossing of the P&DR.Lord Morley seems to have acquiesced in this; his china clay traffic from Lee Moor used Plympton as a railhead and he may have considered the SDR a more efficient carrier from there to Plymouth.