Hutchings & Co were awarded the contract and the first sod was cut at Bareflathills just outside Elgin near the River Lossie by the wife of James Grant on Saturday, 30 November 1851. A large cheering crowd witnessed the ceremony amid the firing of cannons. This point was chosen because it possessed the three most difficult engineering features to be overcome—the bridge over the River Lossie, the road bridge over the track and the very deep cutting. contractor switched to two 12-hour shifts and had a workforce of around 300 navvies. It was reported at the Board meeting held on 2 April 1852, that although the track was half-finished a strike within the workforce had provoked a serious disturbance. There were two stories in circulation regarding the incident. The first of these was that Irish navvies had come onto the job undercutting the locals' wages and the other was that the contractor, who was from England, employed English labour and it was they who objected to the Irish. The outcome was that a clash of some sort had taken place and that four of the instigators were arrested and sentenced to various periods of hard labour—a fifth person was to be sent to the Court of Judiciary for trial after assaulting the Sheriff. The result of all this was that the Morayshire Railway was ordered to pay for ten additional police constables to regulate the workforce.