Early in the nineteenth century, the Isle of Wight was chiefly involved in agriculture; there was industrial activity in
Newport, and
Ryde was an established town.
Cowes and Ryde both had ferry services from the mainland, but Cowes, on the
River Medina, was dominant because of the better harbour there. During the
railway mania of the 1840s, it was proposed that railways should be built on the island to develop tourism, which was then beginning to become an important economic activity, as well as to handle the agriculture and other produce of the island. A number of schemes were put forward but failed to gain support, until in 1858 bills for three railway projects were submitted to Parliament; they were: • The Isle of Wight Railway (Eastern Section), intended to run from Ryde to
Upper Bonchurch, with branches to
Brading and
Shanklin, and a tramway to
Ryde Pier; • The Isle of Wight Railway; to run from Cowes to Ryde via Newport, with branches to
Ventnor and Ryde Pier; • The Cowes and Newport Railway. The first two were rejected in the House of Lords' Committee, and only the Cowes and Newport Railway was authorised. The '''''' (
22 & 23 Vict. c. xciv) obtained
royal assent on 8 August 1859.
Cowes and Newport Railway The Cowes and Newport Railway (C&NR) was to be in length, running north to south along the west side of the
River Medina. The authorised share capital was £30,000 (). A construction contract was let to Albert H. Fernandez, and the first sod was cut on 15 October 1859. The construction had been thought to be simple, but in fact the nature of the ground and the wet weather made the work extremely difficult. In December 1861, the contractor had to give up the work, and the company continued for a period managing the work directly. The itself had financial difficulties as the authorised share issue was considerably undersubscribed. The
Cowes station abutted Cross Street, where there was a
level crossing, over which the line continued as a
tramway; engine
run-round movements had to cross the level crossing and use the tramway, contrary to stipulations in the Cowes and Newport (Isle of Wight) Railway Act 1859. (The was later authorised to enlarge the station and close Cross Street. This work was done in early 1879). Notice boards at the
Newport station made it clear that onward conveyance to
London, via Cowes and
Southampton, was a primary objective. The line was operated by a contractor, Henry Martin, for 50% of gross receipts at first, later 50% of net receipts. The '''''' (
31 & 32 Vict. c. clxxxi) was given royal assent on 31 July 1868, to build a line from Newport to the
Sandown station of the Isle of Wight Railway. The competing proposals were rejected; those who favoured a line from Newport to Ryde were disappointed, and continued the struggle. but it was not planned to pass through any major population centre that was not already rail-connected, and the company found it difficult to raise the money it needed for construction. Moreover, successive resignations of directors made continuity of progress difficult. The first sod was finally cut at
Shide on 14 October 1870. Early in 1871, a prospectus was published offering preference shares, although the company was not authorised to issue these, and this was soon followed by acrimonious and public name-calling between the company and the Corporation of Newport. formerly in use on the
London and South Western Railway. They had been inverted on the LSWR line, using the second running table. The rails were badly galled by the
chairs and there were splits and bulges in the head. They had been cropped to , and the head wear was not matched, so that the joints were uneven. The
fishplate bolts were not long enough in many cases. Approval to open the line to passenger traffic was refused; the company tried to appeal against this, but failed; subsequent inspection visits took place on 31 July, 28 August and 26 September 1872, without success. A contract for the construction was awarded to Barnett and Gale on 1 October 1872. state that there was an
Ashey Racecourse station, used only for race meetings, on the tramway, in use from April 1882 to about 1930. It seems likely that this is a mistake: the empty rolling stock for the excursions was stabled on the tramway during the racing, but there was no passenger station. The tramway is clearly shown on the mapping of the period, but no station is marked on any Ordnance Survey map in the relevant period. Writing in 1946, Jones describes the route from Newport to Ryde and states ==Collaborative working, but disputes over costs==