Isle of Wight Observer March 19 1864
THE NEW LOCOMOTIVE FOR THE PIER COMPANY – Considerable stir was caused in the town when it became known that this anxiously looked for arrival had actually taken place, and would make trial of her powers on Monday last at 2pm. A considerable number of spectators assembled on the Pier and Esplanade to witness the novel sight. The name of the engine is the Vectis, manufactured by the well-known firm of Manning, Wardle & Co, of Leeds, Yorkshire, and is elegant in construction and light in appearance, her weight being 6 tons. The carriages, weighing about 7 tons, were speedily filled inside and out, and Mr Wardle having attended, the start was made; the distance down and back being performed in 2 1/2 minutes. The run was easy, there being no smoke or disagreeable noise to annoy any of the promenaders on the pier, nor did its passing cause the slightest vibration. The tramway, erected by Messrs Langdon, is a piece of workmanship on which they were justly complimented by Mr Wardle. The Vectis was duly christened amidst the cheers of those assembled. Several journeys having been successfully accomplished, the directors invited the staff and their friends to the Royal Pier Hotel, when an interchange of good wishes and aspirations for the success of the new undertaking were enthusiastically given. The health of Mr Wardle was drunk in a bumper of champagne, to which that gentleman responded, saying that his firm had made some hundreds of locomotive engines but never one on so small a scale, but small as she was she was capable of carrying 86 tons at a rate of seven miles an hour, and would be fully equal to the working of six carriages such as they had seen that day. The health of the directors was proposed by Mr Hands, and replied to on behalf of that body by Capt Butler Fellowes. The working operations of this additional portion of the pier will duly commence on Monday morning next, when the Vectis will run on the arrival and departure of every boat.
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