"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Peter Masson wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 18 Dec 2004:

To Paris the Newhaven - Dieppe route was cheaper, and probably more
uncomfortable.

It was certainly vile - I used to use it as Newhaven is nearer where my
parents live. Remember the "Valençay", the "Villandry" and the
"Senlac", which were the ferries that plied the route in the 1970s.

As Newhaven is only 25-30 minutes by car from us, the Senlac was a pleasant
way to start a continental trip. Lunch on board, with traditional service,
allowed one to spend the four hours in reasonable comfort. The SNCF ships,
on the other hand, were a waste of time, with very poor food and indifferent
service. Not at all what one might have expected. I've been once by Jetfoil,
with Macdonalds the summit of culinary offerings. Returning to one's seat
with a tray full of food on a rough day is not recommended.

I've found it as quick to drive to Dover, take P&O and have breakfast or
lunch in Langan's Brasserie, and drive down the Autoroute towards Rouen in
recent years, when visiting glass works in the valley of the Bresle.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

In article , Arthur Figgis
URL:mailto [snip]

Recently there was some fairly serious(?) talk of starting a Belgium -
UK train ferry, so that rail operators wouldn't have to deal with SNCF
and the French unions.

That's really bad!

Michael Bell

--

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...

It may have been disappointing, but it certainly still exists! And I'm
not sure how disappointing passenger traffic is, since they run the
shuttle service every 20 minutes or thereabouts, and 4 passenger tph
through the tunnel - which surely they wouldn't do by now if passenger
levels didn't warrant it?

I see that Eurotunnel are reducing the number of lorry shuttles
considerably, as the increased charges are driving many operators back to
the ferries.


In other words, Eurotunnel aren't making enough money out of it. Who would
have thought that ferries could beat a tunnel on price and speed?

Michael Bell
--

In message , Terry Harper
writes

As Newhaven is only 25-30 minutes by car from us, the Senlac was a pleasant
way to start a continental trip. Lunch on board, with traditional service,
allowed one to spend the four hours in reasonable comfort. The SNCF ships,
on the other hand, were a waste of time, with very poor food and indifferent
service. Not at all what one might have expected. I've been once by Jetfoil,
with Macdonalds the summit of culinary offerings. Returning to one's seat
with a tray full of food on a rough day is not recommended.

I've found it as quick to drive to Dover, take P&O and have breakfast or
lunch in Langan's Brasserie, and drive down the Autoroute towards Rouen in
recent years, when visiting glass works in the valley of the Bresle.

I can strongly recommend Sea France on the current Dover-Calais route
(especially if you get their new, fast Rodin) - superb lunches with the
freshest salad I've ever had, and excellent cuisine if you care to
splash out for dinner. They also do extremely good day-return deals for
booze-cruisers (20 to 26 quid for car + up to 9 passengers is the best
I've seen).

(Annabel's reminiscence of the Gatwick - Le Touquet hedgehopper rang a
bell here - it was a good way to get to Paris in the '70s).

--
Paul Terry

In article , Mrs Redboots
wrote:
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.

I thought that back then platform 1 was reserved for Channel trains, as
there were customs facilities?

The Night Ferry was the only train using the customs facilities - certainly
when I worked at Victoria in 1963.

--
__ __ __ __ __ ___ _____________________________________________
|__||__)/ __/ \|\ ||_ | / Acorn StrongArm Risc_PC
| || \\__/\__/| \||__ | /...Internet access for all Acorn RISC machines
___________________________/

In article , Troy
Steadman writes
Didn't there used to be trains that instead of disgorging their
passengers at the docks actually drove (drove?) steamed on to sidings
on the decks of ships then steamed off Stena-like to continue their
journey across Europe?

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.

In Europe they still exist in 2002 I used the Puttgarden (Germany to
Rodby (Denmark) ferry a through Danish DMU service from Hamburg to
Copenhagen.
A 2nd Germany / Denmark ferry left the Danish port of Gedser also
existed which ran to the Former East Germany, which was declared surplus
following reunification
Puttgarden to Rodby ferry is now less important following the Danish
completion of the Storebelt Bridge/Tunnel between Korsor and Nyborg
which linked the island of Zealand which hosts the Danish capital
Copenhagen with rest of Denmark. This was completed c. late 1990's
reducing Danish Inter-City Train journeys by about 1 hour.
The night train and maybe some other trains from Germany to Copenhagen
now takes this route AFAIK, before trains were conveyed by ferry (Trains
and Passengers only no cars which had a separate ferry.

IN 2000 another Bridge/Tunnel was constructed linking Denmark with
Sweden (Malmo) which no doubts means the existing ferry between
Helsingor (Denmark) and Helsingborg (Sweden) might soon be history

I think there may be still a few elsewhere in the world, but I have
personally only used the above.

In the case of the Puttgarden - Rodby ferry the Danish DMU is driven
onto the ferry, (tracks on car deck) it is then shut down, although you
could stay on the train if you wished, or alight and go up on deck, the
train seemed to be treated like just another 'road' vehicle.

I saw a train from Sweden unloading at Helsingor, and immediately behind
the last carriage road vehicles started disembarking likewise.

--
Alan Osborn

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 21:06:12 +0000 (GMT), David H Wild
wrote:

In article , Mrs Redboots
wrote:
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.

I thought that back then platform 1 was reserved for Channel trains, as
there were customs facilities?

The Night Ferry was the only train using the customs facilities - certainly
when I worked at Victoria in 1963.

I got ticked off by a policeman at Victoria one evening in 1967 for
checking the loco number on the up Golden Arrow after its arrival ( I
had to dodge around the Customs barrier to do it - E50XX), so I don't
think that's correct, sorry.




--

Regards

Mike

mikedotroebuckatgmxdotnet

Terry Harper wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 19 Dec 2004:

As Newhaven is only 25-30 minutes by car from us, the Senlac was a pleasant
way to start a continental trip. Lunch on board, with traditional service,
allowed one to spend the four hours in reasonable comfort. The SNCF ships,
on the other hand, were a waste of time, with very poor food and indifferent
service.

I used to work for a man who was great friends with some of the staff on
the French ships, so I always got great service on them! It took him
some time to make friends with the people on the "Senlac", and I'd long
since left to live in Paris by the time he did!

Not at all what one might have expected. I've been once by Jetfoil,
with Macdonalds the summit of culinary offerings. Returning to one's seat
with a tray full of food on a rough day is not recommended.

No way......

I've found it as quick to drive to Dover, take P&O and have breakfast or
lunch in Langan's Brasserie, and drive down the Autoroute towards Rouen in
recent years, when visiting glass works in the valley of the Bresle.

The autoroute to Rouen is lovely, especially the "Aire de la Baie de
Somme", where we always stop, whether we need to or not! Imagine people
going to a service area in the UK if they didn't have to.....

But these days we always take the tunnel. Quite honestly, early
experiences on the Newhaven-Dieppe run have put me off ferries for life!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004

Peter Masson wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 19 Dec 2004:

The Night Ferry used platform 2, because it was long enough and because it
had access to the customs and immigration offices. Platform 2 was also used
for Royal Trains - State Visits often came in to Gatwick, and the visting
Heads of States were conveyed to Victoria by Royal Train, and then taken in
a carriage procession to Buckingham Palace. Also used for the Royal Train to
Tattenham Corner on Derby Day.

I think it still is used for Royal trains - I have certainly seen one at
the platform within recent years, dropping off some international bigwig
who had, presumably, arrived at Gatwick.

Platform 1 could be closed off from platform 2 by the folding gates along
the length of the platform. It was certainly used for commuter trains after
the 1967 timetable alterations.

As, indeed, it often is today!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004

Terry Harper wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 19 Dec 2004:

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...

It may have been disappointing, but it certainly still exists! And I'm
not sure how disappointing passenger traffic is, since they run the
shuttle service every 20 minutes or thereabouts, and 4 passenger tph
through the tunnel - which surely they wouldn't do by now if passenger
levels didn't warrant it?

I see that Eurotunnel are reducing the number of lorry shuttles
considerably, as the increased charges are driving many operators back to
the ferries.

Still a huge queue of lorries last time we went over a few weeks ago!
But then, if they've cut back on lorry-trains, perhaps that's
inevitable.
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 18 December 2004