In 1844, Lord Harborough was involved in an extended battle, both legal and physical, with Midland Railway over its proposal to run the Syston and Peterborough Railway along the course of the River Eye through Stapleford Park, Harborough's country seat in Stapleford in Leicestershire. Its construction would threaten the struggling Oakham Canal, of which Harborough was a shareholder along with Lord Winchilsea. The dispute led to a series of brawls and confrontations between Harborough's men and canal employees (who borrowed cannons from Harborough's yacht to barricade the towing path) on one side and the railway's surveyors on the other with up to 300 involved in each skirmish. The dispute has been called the "Battle of Saxby".
The construction of the railway was authorised by Parliament and a second act to allow the canal to be sold and abandoned was obtained on 27 July 1846.[8] After which Oakham Canal was absorbed by Midland and the Syston and Peterborough Railway was built, partly along the canal's course and around Stapleford Park in what is known as "Lord Harborough's Curve". The railway from Syston to Melton Mowbray opened on 1 September 1846. It would be more than a year before the sale of the canal was finally completed, on 29 October 1847, but just six months after that, the line from Melton Mowbray to Oakham opened on 1 May 1848. The purchase price enabled a final distribution of £44.35 to be made on each of the original shares.
After his death in 1859, the Harborough's Stapleford Park estate was sold to Lord Gretton, who was more sympathetic to the railway, and when the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway built a connection to Bourne, the opportunity was taken to reduce the curve, which was a nuisance for the express trains, with Saxby station being moved in the process.