MartinM wrote:
"Alan Osborn" wrote in message
...

There are still although not in the UK since the demise of the
Night
Ferry in c. 1970's -
I can still recall seeing the Wagon Lits SNCF train at London
Victoria

It was withdrawn due to problems with the French stock unique as
being
French but built to UK loading gauge.
The ferry I understood last much longer for freight wagons.

The Night Ferry was carried on the St Germain which was also used as
a car
ferry (I used it in 1965). I also travelled on it with the Night
Ferry in
1980 (having used the connecting boat train).

The Dover - Dunkerque service was operated by the St. Germain and the
St. Eloi in the 80's.

It was replaced in c 1988 by
the Nord Pas de Calais, a purpose built trainferry which required two
dedicated 33/2s to shunt so the boat stayed upright in the trainferry
dock.
It was proposed that prohibited tunnel freight would use it after the
opening of the same but it now carries lorries only, saw it last
month.

The Nord Pas de Calais replaced both boats, and was big enough to offer
more rail capacity in total, doing a minimum of three round trips a
day. It also used a new berth at Dunkerque, which didn't require the
previous negotiation of a major lock. This speeded up the crossing time
considerably.

The small amount of dangerous goods traffic which could not pass
through the Tunnel would not have justified keeping the train ferry
service going, unfortunately.

I don't know what's happened to the St. Germain, on board which I had
two notable crossings (amongst many). I sailed on the (former) St. Eloi
in about 1993 though, from Heysham to Douglas and back. The rails on
the train deck had been filled in and were no longer easily visible.

The Chartres also had a rail deck, and was sometimes used as a stand-in
when one of the other boats was under maintenance.

Cheers

Mike