Cornwall Railway - Construction Starts

Construction Starts

At this time the general financial depression following the railway mania had set in, and apart from a small amount of work near St Austell, little progress in constructing the line was made.

However at a meeting in February, Brunel informed the directors that if the scheme were reduced to a single line, the whole route could be constructed for £800,000, including the Tamar crossing and all stations. Obtaining finance was still a serious obstacle, and in April 1852 the directors proposed a capital reconstruction that reduced the commitment of subscribers (many of whom had failed to respond to calls on their shares). Many subscribers defaulted on their commitment nonetheless, but the financial reconstruction enabled the directors to proceed with construction between Truro (from the West Cornwall Railway near Penwithers Junction) and St Austell, and shortly after to Liskeard, about 37 miles in total, as well as, in January 1853, the letting of a £162,000 contract for construction of the bridge over the Tamar.

However the severe shortage of money further inhibited progress, with shareholders failing to respond to calls (in which they should have paid for their shares in instalments) and by summer of 1854 more than half the company's shares had been forfeited from this cause. The directors now approached the Associated Companies (a consortium of the Great Western Railway, the Bristol & Exeter Railway and the South Devon Railway) for financial help, and in June 1855 a lease of the line was agreed, by which the Associated Companies guaranteed the Cornwall company's debentures (bank loans). This considerably eased the finanical difficulties, enabling further contracts to be let.

In October 1855 the contractor building the Tamar bridge failed, and after a delay, the company started undertaking the continuation of the work itself, under the supervision of Brunel's assistant, Robert Pearson Brereton. The huge undertaking proceeded slowly, but it was completed in 1859. The bridge is about 730 yards long, with the two great main spans each of 455 feet and numerous side spans. The total cost was £225,000. A fuller description of the bridge and its construction at Royal Albert Bridge.

East of the bridge, a the South Devon Railway had planned a Devonport branch from its Plymouth station at Millbay, opened with their line in April 1849. The Cornwall company purchased the branch from them in 1854, and extended it to join with the Tamar bridge. The South Devon company extended their station to handle the Cornwall's traffic, and agreed to use of the first half mile of their railway from Millbay to the divergence of the Cornwall Railway.