The origins of train ferries lie back in the 19th century, for example
across the Firth of Forth before the bridge, and an attempt to run one
from Langstone Harbour to the Isle of Wight, although that was mixed up
in a financial scandal. Both, though, were for freight only.
I was also thinking about train ferries on inland waters. There are, or
were until recently, car floats across one or more fo the Great Lakes,
certainly Lake Michigan. Am I right in remembering that there was or was
designed to be a train ferry across Lake Van connecting Turkish and
Iranian railways.
Across the Channel, theb pioneer ferry was during the Great War and ran
from Richborough. Some of the equipment, e.g. linkpsans, went to one of
the other train ferries after the war. On dates, the Night Ferry stopped
running on 31/10/1980. I travelled on it on my honeymoon in 1978.
Peter Northover
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Dr Peter Northover,
Materials Science-Based Archaeology Group,
Department of Materials, University of Oxford
Tel +44 (0)1865 283721; Fax +44 (0)1865 841943 Mobile +44 (0)7785 501745
e-mail [log in to unmask]
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