"Paul Terry" wrote in message
...

This was the "Night Ferry" service beloved of generations of students,

That was a different service, and was indeed the one on which passengers
could stay in their cabins for the channel crossing - and this was the
one that used the Dover-Dunkerque (rather than Calais) route.
Traditionally leaving Victoria at 8.00pm and arriving in two sections
(one to Brussels the other to Paris) at 9.00am the next morning.

It actually left Victoria at 10.00 pm (9.00 pm during GMT). The up train was
booked to leave Dover at 7.20 am and run via Chatham and Catford. More often
than not it ran in its late path, 8.10 am from Dover via Tonbridge and Kent
House, arriving Victoria 9.38 am. Commuters whose train was routed into
platform 1 at Victoria used to curse it, as they had to leave by the side
gate into Hudson Place, making for a long walk round to the Underground.

Peter