We had come that
way in the hope of seeing some of the big warships near Devonport, and
at length we came to the great railway bridge at Saltash. The thought
occurred to us that we might reach the Cornish coast by walking over the
bridge to the other side. We had walked across a railway bridge on one
occasion in Scotland to enable us to reach Abbotsford, the former
residence of the great Sir Walter Scott, so why not adopt a similar plan
here? We were some time before we could find a place where we could
scale the embankment, but ultimately we got on the railway and walked to
the entrance of the bridge; but when we reached the path at the side of
the bridge it looked such a huge affair, and such a long way across the
water, that we decided not to venture without asking some advice. We
waited until we saw coming along the railway track a workman, to whom we
confided our intention. He strongly advised us not to make the attempt,
since we should run great bodily risk, as well as make ourselves liable
to the heavy fine the railway company had power to inflict. We rather
reluctantly returned to the road we had left, but not before seeing some
of the big ships from the bridge--the finest and last of the iron
tubular bridges built by the famous engineer Brunel, the total length,
including approaches, being 2,200 feet.
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