Two practical problems emerged in 1878 over the route of the line. The first was that the plans deposited for the Act of Parliament showed a junction at Upwey aligned towards Dorchester. In view of the steep upward gradient of the main line there, which was in any case well above the level of the approach from Abbotsbury, this made the junction impracticable. The second was that speculators had purchased the land required fore the line and sliced it up in such a way that the railway would have to buy unnecessarily large areas of land at high prices.