the commitment of subscribers. 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 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 borrowings). This considerably eased the financial difficulties, enabling further contracts to be let. Construction of the Saltash bridge started in May 1854 with the floating out of the "Great Cylinder"—the caisson to be used for founding the central pier in the tideway. In October 1855 the contractor, Charles John Mare, 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 long, with the two great main spans each of and numerous side spans. The total cost was £225,000 (equivalent to £ in ). A fuller description of the bridge and its construction is in the article Royal Albert Bridge. East of the bridge, 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 by 1858 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. A Joint Committee with the South Devon company was established to oversee the operation of the Mill Bay station. Construction of the section of route between Truro and Falmouth had been let to