British Start

It was somehow inevitable, that the sea-surrounded United Kingdom as the motherland of the railway was also to become the first country to put up rail-connections by ferry ships. Out of a number of projects, it was the Edinburgh and Northern Railway, which was awarded to establish a ferry service for Dundee, after the plan of a bridge crossing the First of Forth had been blocked by the admiralty. The company purchased in 1849 the small, but strategically important Edinburgh, Perth and Granton Railway and changed its name into Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. An early passenger ferry had already been operated from Granton Pier to Burntisland Harbour, 4.5 miles apart, by small steamers in the ownership of the Duke of Buccleuch. The railway company bought this service, realized the planned Dundee connection in 1847 and took up Firth of Forth crossings from Granton Pier near Edinburgh. On 3 February 1850 the sidewheel ship "Leviathan" of 389 tons, a double-end construction, opened the service of the so-called "floating railway" as the first train ferry in the world, for goods wagons only.

The vessel could tackle with 30 to 40 small four-wheeled carriages of the period. The hull carried no superstructure save a simple bridge connecting the wheelcases. A steel-platform was needed for the adaption to the tide, operated by a stationary steam engine, which did also the shunting work by means of a connection rope. A linkspan connected with the ship. The complete system was designed by Sir Thomas Bouch. The "Leviathan" operated very reliably together with other ships. In 1851 she opened the service on the Tay passage of only ¾ miles distance. In 1878 the ill-fated Taybridge was completed. In the stormy night of 28 December 1879 the center arch collapsed just when a passenger train passed over. Out of the 80 passengers and crew none had survived. In March 1890 also the Firth of Forth was bridged for the North British Railway, what meant the end of the ferry service.


The first train ferry across the Firth of Forth (F.S. Williams, coll. George Behrend)

Firth of Forth Bridge (old card, coll. WS)

Channel Operations
Early ideas of replacing the stormy seaway across the Channel by a tunnel are reported already from the middle of the 18th century. As soon as the railways in England and in France had reached the Channel, the dreams of a tunnel connecting the countries became a little more concrete. A proposal from 1865 by Sir John Fowler however was rejected on military reasons, mainly after Germany and France had started their war of 1870-71. Later, Queen Victoria agreed and it is believed that she wanted to beware ladies from sea-sickness. In 1882 preliminary work began, but then the Queen ordered an immediate stop. French hostilities after England had extended its rule over Egypt were considered the reason. The existing mail steamers (see the relevant chapter) got no competitor.

Trains were not ferried. It took decades to realize a train ferry service across the Channel. Starting point had been a connection from Langstone Harbour to the Isle of Wight, where operation began in 1885 with the small sidewheel ferry "Carrier" (243 tons) from the Firth of Tay passage. During the First World War the battle-field in Northern France called for a constant supply. The transport on steamers or barges took much time. In 1917, the third year of the war, the Directorate of Inland Waterways and Docks, subordinated to the War Office, took in consideration to set up a railway ferry service additionally. This way, the loaded trains could pass through to their destinations close to the battle-front. The operation started in December 1917 between Southampton and Dieppe (31.5 km) and in February 1918 additionally between Richborough in Kent and Calais (48.8 km). Three ferries of 3,000 tons were delivered from Armstrong Whitworth, marked T.F.1 to T.F.3. The fourth was the T.F.4, relocated from Canada.

The Great Eastern Railway had failed in 1922 to establish a freight line to the Continent. Soon the Belgians arrived on the scene. Two companies were founded to set up a railway ferry connection between Harwich and Zeebrugge in 1923: A British, the Great Eastern Ferries Ltd., and a Belgian, the Societe Belgo-Anglaise des Ferry Boats S.A., a daughter of Belgian state railway. As they conveyed only cargo trains, their history is not dealt with this survey.

Night Ferry
Ad of 1936 by P.F. Garretto (coll. Juergen Klein)

The successful operation of the Tay and Forth ferries gave the impetus for a regular ferry service across the English Channel. In 1902 deputies of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway went to Denmark, Sweden and Germany to gather information. There was already the dream of a CIWL day-saloon train London - Paris to be ferried across the Channel. In spite of a favourable report, further investigations were considered necessary with regard of the bigger tide of the Channel. Finally, in February 1912, the plans for a railway ferry service had reached a point, where a connection between Newhaven and Dieppe could be tackled. A contract was made between the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the Chemin de Fer de l' Etat (a French state-owned railway) to found the Channel Ferry Company as operator. However, the outbreak of the First World War prevented the realization.

Ambitious plans emerged, even of connecting London with the Middle East by Wagons-Lits sleeping-cars. However, it was not until the 12 October 1936, that a first project became reality. Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd. were awarded with the delivery of three double-screw ferry ships of c.3,000 tons, named "Hampton Ferry", "Shepperton Ferry" and "Twickenham Ferry". They were constructed for rear-loading and carried 12 "F"-type sleeping-cars of the Wagons-Lits company CIWL and vans or up to 24 goods wagons on four tracks. The power of two sets of steam turbines gave them a speed of c. 15 knots. Regular operations started in October 1936. It was the inauguration of the direct Paris -London train connection. Departure was regularly at 10 o'clock p.m. from London Victoria Station and arrival at 8.55 a.m. in Paris Nord. Two ferries departed from each terminal at the same time. The only passenger train was the "Night Ferry" of the Southern Railway and Chemin de fer du Nord, consisting of CIWL sleeping cars and vans. From 1937 the "Twickenham Ferry" sailed under French flag with French crew for the Societe de Navigation Angleterre - Lorraine - Alsace S.A. (ALA).

With outbreak of World War II the two British vessels were required by the Royal Navy and operated at times as minelayer and as horse transporter. After the debacle of the Allied forces in France, both ships took part in the evacuation at Dunkerque. With the Allies landing in France in June 1944 they carried all kind of military equipment including locomotives and rolling stock.

In 1947 the civil railway ferry service could take up again its original duty on the Dover - Dunkerque passage and restart the London - Paris "Night Ferry" connection. To meet the growing utilization, the French railways SNCF had launched a new vessel, the double-screw ferry "Saint Germain" of 3,094 tons, built at the Helsingoer yard in Denmark, capable to take 14 sleeping cars on board. Her diesel-engines of 6,400 h.p. enabled her to a speed of 18.5 knots.

Last Night Ferry
In 1957 the "Night Ferry", the only passenger train on the Channel route, connecting London with Paris, was extended by sleeping-cars from London Victoria to Brussels. In 1967 a sleeping-car service London - Basle was added, but it disappeared soon. When the "Hampton Ferry" was assigned to the freight section in 1965, the sleeping cars sailed on the new "Vortigern". This multi-purpose vessel of 4,371 tons (later 4,800 tons) was built at Swan Hunter and entered service for British Rail in 1969. In the 70s the Night Ferry was run under responsibility of the French SNCF, with the traditional F-type sleepers and Wagons-Lits service. Since 1973 the Channel ferry service operated under the new name Sealink. From February 1974 the multiple-purpose ship "Chartres" (4,586 tons, 20.5 knots) of the SNCF took over Night Ferry sailings. In 1975, the ALA ferry "Saint Eloi" (4,648 tons) replaced the "Chartres", except for occasional relief duties. Last departure of the Night Ferry from London to Paris and Brussels was on 31 October 1980. In July 1984 Sealink UK Ltd and ALA were sold to Sea Containers Ltd of James Sherwood. Rail freight operation continued. Sherwood had inaugurated the de-Luxe special Venice Simplon-Orient-Express on the continent, but his proposal to start a new Night Ferry Dover - Paris with SNCF sleepers was not accepted. Other sources wrote about an idea of extending the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express via the tunnel, true or not, and of course not realizable. Finally in 1994 the Channel Tunnel was completed. Through operation between the UK and the Continent has made the train ferries unnecessary. Eurostar high-speed trains from London Waterloo, later St Pancras, to Paris Nord and to Brussels were started and the ICE to Frankfurt was announced for 2013, but the initially proposed night trains were sold to Canada before completion.


Night Ferry arriving at London Victoria Station, 1967 (Roger Commault)

A British Daimler carried a Night Ferry passenger to Victoria Station (WS)

"Twickenham Ferry" (coll. Roger Commault)

The last Night Ferry arriving at Paris Nord, 1st Nov.1980 (Roger Commault)


"Saint Eloi" of ALA, off Dover 1979 (WS)