a route that did not need massive capital expenditure, and from March 1871 they agreed to pay £1,500 annually for the carriage of mail over the PPR, on the basis of trains running in direct connection with night mail trains on the main line. This encouraged the PPR to support a Larne and Stranraer Steamboat Company in running a daily return crossing on that route, from 1 July 1872; the vessel was the Princess Louise. This improved the finances of the PPR considerably, and the Company agreed to the use of a small shunting engine to take passenger coaches on to the East Pier at Stranraer; the flimsy structure had not previously been used and passengers had to walk along the unsheltered jetty to the ships. Late in 1875 a second, similar, steamer was commissioned, named Princess Beatrice. The East Pier at Stranraer was owned and maintained by the Town Council. It had never been robust, and subsidence and other difficulties demanded urgent repairs in May 1876. The Council was unwilling to execute the work, costed at £6,000, and after considerable wrangling, the PPR obtained Parliamentary authorisation to take over the pier, by Act of 28 June 1877. The Wigtownshire Railway: first construction The area of Galloway known as the Machars lies south of Newton Stewart between Luce Bay and Wigtown Bay. The agricultural land is the most productive in the area and the several ports served coastal and international shipping. Proposals were made in 1863 for a railway to be built in the area, but it was not until 1871 that sufficient interest in a railway scheme was generated. The proposed line was from Newton Stewart on the PPR southwards to Wigtown and nearly to Garliestown, then turning away to Whithorn. The divergence was due to the hostility of the 9th Earl of Galloway who owned extensive lands in the area. The harbour of Garliestown was to be reached by a short horse-operated tramway branch, running partly along the road. The Wigtownshire Railway (WR) was authorised by Act of 18 July 1872, with capital of £96,000 and the usual one-third borrowing powers, only to be accessible if a certain proportion of shares had been subscribed. The 1½-mile (2 km) tramway could not be operated by locomotives, nor by stationary engine or as an "atmospheric railway". The main line was to be just over 19 miles (31 km) long. Construction