1861 Captain H W Tyler made the formal inspection of the line over a three-day period. His only significant adverse comment was that the rail joints were not fished. The line was single throughout, worked by telegraph order; crossing stations were at Castle Douglas, New Galloway, Creetown, Newton Stewart, Glenluce and Stranraer. A shareholders' special train ran on 11 March 1861 and a full public service started the following day, consisting of two passenger trains each way between Stranraer and Castle Douglas, and probably one goods train. The line had not yet opened to Portpatrick itself. The passenger trains conveyed three classes of passenger. In November the passenger service was augmented to three trains each way, possibly by converting the goods train to mixed operation. At this time the motive power fleet consisted of three 0-4-2 mixed traffic tender locomotives and an 0-6-0 locomotive loaned by the LNWR. In the Parliamentary Act authorising the PPR, a clause had been entered penalising the Company if the short branch to the north pier at Portpatrick was not completed by August 1862. The Company had accepted this obligation on the understanding that the Government would improve the little harbour to enable efficient working of mail and other shipping. This work was essential also to railway operation, as the available land for a terminal was very cramped. A change of Government policy began to suggest that the harbour improvement works might not be funded, and the PPR, with limited funds for building its line, was alarmed that their obligation might be to build an unusable branch line; accordingly they had not built any of the main line from Stranraer. However, in 1861 the Government did in fact put the work in hand, and the PPR now accelerated the completion of their lines, and the line opened on 28 August 1862, after a Board of Trade inspection on 1 August 1862. The line ran to a town terminus at Portpatrick. To reach the harbour itself, a headshunt was provided beyond the station; a backshunt from there led to the harbour; due to the cramped site the headshunt was only sufficient for an engine and two coaches. The ordinary Portpatrick station was informally referred to as "the high station"; the line to the harbour descended very steeply, and was a plain single line without sidings. The harbour improvement works seemed to have been suspended and there