Elsewhere, a ferry, the forerunner of the Butts ferry, dates back to the 1640s. The Wharfinger's Office was built in 1778, following the 1770s extension of the Quay. Bodley's, the local iron foundry built the transit shed in 1820. In 1830 Exeter celebrated the grand opening of the Basin, the final piece of the canal. It was 300m long, 30m wide and had a constant depth of 5.5m, with provision for vessels up to 400 tons. Warehouses were added in 1834 [Cornish's] and 1835 [Hooper's], with provision for storing tobacco and wine and cellars for cider and silk were cut into the cliffs downstream. Sadly this progress was offset by the arrival of the railway line at Exeter in 1844. There were plans for a branch line along the Quay and down towards Powderham, but the eventual course took the railway away from the area, adding to the sense that the the Quay's days as the main trading point for the City were numbered. Items such as coal, timber and oil continued to be shipped along the canal to the Quay, but with fewer vessels using it, it became difficult to justify the upkeep. The last commercial vessel, the Esso Jersey, made its final trading passage in 1972.