ruthless and successful General Manager of the London and North Western Railway had retired and lived near Ventnor, and he was invited to assist the directors in planning their railway construction. Huish suggested that the railway contractor Thomas Brassey could be persuaded to build the line if the LBSCR and LSWR would subscribe their £20,000 and one of them would agree to work the line. The Directors were relieved to have Huish's experience on board—none of them had experience of railway construction. On 5 February 1861 Brassey's company undertook to build the railway for £123,000, but this was for a single track of railway and exclusive of land acquisition, legal costs, and stations. The sum would exhaust the Company's share capital. Worse was to follow: the LBSCR and the LSWR were in a state of competitive hostility, and the idea of collaboration was impossible. Negotiations dragged on for some time; the Board earnestly hoped that Brassey could be persuaded to build the line, but without the guarantees Brassey feared that the Company as his client would become insolvent, and he declined. Early in 1862 tenders were considered by the Board; none of them were acceptable or affordable. On 20 March 1862 the engineer John Fowler was appointed as Engineer to the Company. He was asked to review the design and specification for the line's construction, and on 4 November 1862 a quotation from Henry Bond was put to the Board with Fowler's support. For £126,000 he would build the line from Ryde to Ventnor with a Brading branch. In the first days of 1863 this, the largest construction project on the Island, started work. A further contract for £17,500 with Bond was later concluded for stations and signalling. The 1860 Act had authorised an extension northwards from St Johns Road to Melville Street, in order to make a terminal there for a street-running tramway to the pier. Much controversy had been generated in Ryde over the adverse effect on amenity in the area, and the Company decided on 12 March 1863 to abandon the attempt to extend to Melville Street. Discussions took place with the Ryde Pier Company with a view to joint construction of a railway to the pier, but the talks broke down and in 1864 the idea was dropped. The Sandown Bay branch, also authorised in 1860, was abandoned. The company name was changed to the Isle