hired in from the IoWR. Cheaply-constructed wooden platforms were opened at , , and , probably just in time for Coronation Day 1876. A vexatious dispute arose over the apportionment of contributions to the cost of the Newport viaduct and bridge, and resort to arbitration, and then a Parliamentary Bill to revive expired powers delayed opening. An inspection by Major General Hutchinson in October 1878 resulted in the design strength of the bridge girders being questioned. This seems to have been resolved and in March 1879 he approved the bridge but objected to the junction connection between the two railways' lines. On 1 May 1879, the Directors reported at a shareholders' meeting that the junction had been made and used for goods trains, and it seems to have been opened for all traffic on 1 June 1879. Meanwhile, relations with the IoWR, which had been working the IoW(NJ)R, broke down completely, and that arrangement was terminated at the beginning of 1879. The IoW(NJ)R was steadily descending into heavy indebtedness, with many landowners still waiting for their money, and debenture interest payments being left unpaid, and important track improvements being left undone. Against this background the Joint Committee took over the working of the IoW(NJ)R on 1 April 1879. Extension to Ryde Pier The IoWCR ran over the IoWR into Ryde; the station was at St John's Road and the distance from there to Ryde Pier was a serious inconvenience to through passengers to Portsmouth on the mainland. The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the London and South Western Railway together decided to build the missing link, and the line from to the IoWR's St John's Road station opened on 12 July 1880. At first there was limited accommodation at Ryde so the Newport trains were not admitted to the extension until October 1880. Amalgamation as the Isle of Wight Central Railway The three central lines, the Cowes and Newport Railway, the Isle of Wight (Newport Junction) Railway and the Ryde and Newport Railway, were all in financial difficulties, but they had common cause. By common consent there were too many companies running the limited extent of the network, and they agreed on amalgamation as a way forward, and a combined company called the Isle of Wight Central Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 19 July 1887, retrospectively applicable from 1 July 1887. The combined company was