Two of the major civil engineering projects on the line were the six-span, 18 metres (59 ft) high Wolverton viaduct over the river Great Ouse,[1] and the 1 mile 656 yards (2.209 km) long Kilsby Tunnel near Rugby.

[2] Work on this tunnel was prolonged, due to the builders unexpectedly encountering quicksand, and the route was not ready for the scheduled opening of the railway on 9 April 1838.

[3][a] As a temporary measure, Denbigh Hall station was built near the point where the line crossed Watling Street, allowing passengers to transfer to stage-coaches to continue their journey to Rugby station,[b] also near Watling Street, a distance of approximately 37 miles (60 km).

[10] Due to the temporary nature of the station, no images of it or records of its layout are known to exist, but a contemporary engraving by George Dodgson Callow and William Radclyffe shows a train on the bridge in its immediate vicinity.

[11] In 1920, Herbert Leon, 1st baronet of the nearby Bletchley Park, commissioned a plaque on the bridge to commemorate the station.