CELEBRATIONS will soon be in order. This year marks the centenary of the commencement of building one of the Tamar Valley's most notable landmarks — the Calstock Viaduct.

It was built to enable the Plymouth Devonport South Western Junction Railway to complete its line from Bere Alston to Callington.

Local railway historian John Snell of Bere Alston has a collection of postcard photographs taken at the time of the work by the local bank manager, Mr F J Paul, who took around 75 shots of the different stages of the construction of the viaduct.

Mr Snell said work started on the railway in 1904, with the two-mile stretch on the Devon side being completed on time. However, the two-and-a-half mile length of standard gauge track on the Cornish side proved to be more of a problem, as there were certain difficulties with landowners and the cutting at Harewood between Calstock and Gunnislake required large amounts of earth to be moved — a tramway had to be built to enable this.

The railway company had purchased the East Cornwall Mineral Railway — which carried freight only — in January 1894, which meant that the track bed from just below Albaston village towards Callington could be used.

The biggest engineering project of the line was the building of the Calstock Viaduct, which started in April 1904. Designed by William Galbraith, an LSWR engineer, it was built by John Lang of Liskeard. The famous light railway builder of the era, Colonel Stephens, was in charge of the work on the viaduct and the line in general.

'The contract for building the viaduct was for 15 months, but ran way over this time and took nearly three years to complete. The main problem was the pillars in the river, where deep drillings were needed to get to bedrock,' explained Mr Snell.

The blocks used in the building — all 11,148 of them — were made on the Bere Alston side of the River Tamar, where Ferry Farm stands today. Sand and cement came by river and granite chippings had to travel via the Tamar Manure Navigation Canal at Gunnislake.

When the railway was opened in 1908, a remarkable 113ft structure in the form of a wagon hoist was built at the Calstock end of the viaduct to provide access to the quay. It was one of the highest in England and was designed by Messrs Galbraith and Church, also LSWR engineers. It was installed by Head Wrightson and Co, the foundations being taken out by viaduct builder John Lang in 1907.

Mr Snell said the cage and framework of the lift were composed almost entirely of mild steel, forming strongly braced structures with ample margin of strength. 'The cage could hold one four-wheeled open wagon weighing 15 tons laden and the motive power for raising and lowering the cage was provided by a steam boiler and powerful winding engine fixed to the top of the lift framing,' he said.

Duplicate steel ropes were provided to raise the cage, each capable of holding the load should the other fail. The girders used to approach the lift at the top were supported by large concrete plinths, which are still visible. At the lower end the wagons were hauled out by turntable onto the siding which ran along the quay.

Stone and brick traffic used the lift for onward transportation by river, but as the railway became more popular the hoist was less used and it was dismantled in 1934.

'It lay on Calstock Quay until 1938, when is was sold as scrap to Germany,' said Mr Snell.

The delay in the building of Calstock Viaduct brought many complaints from the PDSWR against John Lang. 'Despite this, Lang was a fine builder and the proof is that today Wessex trains still use the viaduct,' Mr Snell said.