to Dover the next day. An improved successor In January 1876, the board of the English Channel Steamship Company agreed to an issue of £150,000 of shares paying a dividend of 7% in order to finance an improved version of Castalia. The new ship was to be capable of . The new ship was the , which was built by Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne, Northumberland. Express was renamed before entering service with the LCDR. Political manoeuvres It was reported that for each of the months from August to November, an increase of the average number of passengers carried per day was recorded, from 38 in August to 159 in November. In March, the South Eastern Railway Bill had its second reading in Parliament. Sir Charles Russell, MP stated that the South Eastern Railway (SER) had done everything in its power to obstruct the English Channel Steamship Company. Lord Elcho stated that if the railway was sincere in its desire to improve communication with the continent (the stated aim of the bill), then it would run its trains to suit Castalia, rather than expecting the ship to run to suit its trains. After some discussion, the bill passed its second reading. Sir Edward Watkin was asked about this state of affairs at a shareholders meeting of the SER on 3 August. He replied that the railway could not run a special and regular service of trains to meet an irregular sailing schedule such as that operated by Castalia, which did not run in the winter. The boats that connected with the SERs trains operated a regular, year-round service. Modifications, further trials, and end of ferry career Having been withdrawn for further modifications and improvements, Castalia re-entered service on 3 June 1876. The average number of passengers using Castalia increased from 1,741 in June to 2,933 in July and 5,388 in August. In March 1877, Castalia was fitted with new paddle wheels. These only had twelve paddles against the 32 of the original wheels. Although her boilers were priming, an increase in speed of was achieved compared against similar power settings for the old paddle wheels. Although the trial was declared a success, Castalia was withdrawn from service. She was laid up on Galleons Reach on the River Thames, at Erith, Kent. The English Channel Steamship Company was wound up by order of the Court of Chancery following a petition