The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway had undertaken to lease and work the line on the assumption of merging with the Scottish Central Railway, but this arrangement had fallen through. As the day of opening of the S&DR approached, it became obvious that the E&GR intended to evade its obligations to lease and work the line. On 6 April 1849 the Engineer Miller issued a certificate that the line was complete (to Oakley) but the E&GR declined to lease it as had been agreed. Faced with legal action to force compliance, the E&GR used the letter of the contract it had made with the S&DR, insisting on completion of the S&DR as authorised, and declining to accept any deviation at Stirling to accommodate a connection with the SCR. (The SCR was prepared to accept the S&DR crossing the Forth at Stirling on its bridge there, and using their station, but the E&GR insisted on separate facilities being provided. Nonetheless "Dunfermline Line Junction" at Stirling was a recognised location south of Stirling station into the 1970s.)