by the numbers of passengers during the summer months, and many proposals were put forward for the construction of a railway. Delegations of local people in the island attended meetings with a joint committee of the LSWR and LBSCR, and they demanded a proper railway at Ryde. The two mainland companies had collaborated in forming a joint connection to Portsmouth on the mainland and saw that their business to the Isle of Wight was limited by the poor connection at Ryde, so they acceded to the idea, and agreed to construct the link themselves. A Bill was submitted to the 1877 session of Parliament for powers to build a widened pier and a railway to St John's Road, in tunnel for much of the way from the Esplanade. The mainland companies intended to operate the trains themselves as far as St Johns Road; the Island companies would take them on from there. The South Western and Brighton Railway Companies (Isle of Wight and Ryde Pier Railway) Bill passed on 23 July 1877. On further consideration it was agreed that the IWR and R&NR would have running powers to the Pier Head and work their own trains through; they would pay a toll of 3d per passenger booked to or from Ryde, including St Johns Road. Construction began during 1878 and took two years to complete; the St Johns Road level crossing was replaced by a bridge. The difficulty of passing the new line under the Esplanade, considered an important beauty spot in Ryde, led to the line being built with a low headroom (at 12 ft 3in); this was to limit the introduction of some traction designs in later years. IoWR trains began working to Ryde Esplanade station on 5 April 1880 and to Ryde Pier Head on 12 July 1880; the horse tramway was shortened to serve the length of the pier only. The new railway did not carry goods traffic. The Pier was unique in the United Kingdom in having a complete railway station at its seaward end; the railway on the pier formed a single signalling section, from Pier Head to Esplanade. Five or six steamers could berth at the pier simultaneously. The Port of Portsmouth and Ryde United Steam Packet Company operated the ferry between Portsmouth and Ryde, but in 1879 the LSWR and LBSCR secured an Act authorising the raising of £50,000 each to begin