ACROSS THE CHANNEL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3822, 16 October 1936, Page 11

ACROSS THE CHANNEL

NEW TRAIN FERRY CONNECTION WITH THE CONTINENT. The Southern Railways’ Channel train ferry scheme is now rapidly nearing completion. In the not very distant future, therefore, it may be anticipated that the Southern Railway's dream of a service which will enable passengers to entrain at Victoria and detrain at Paris, Berlin or at places even farther away, may be realised, with all its accompanying advantages. In fact, going to bed in England and waking up ‘‘Somewhere in France” will become a regular experience for travellers to the Continent. r THE LOCKS. V As the waters of France and England on either side of the Channel have a daily rise and fall of between 10 and 20 feet, an inclined slip, such as is used for the reception of many road vehicle ferries, was out of the Question in this case owing to the necessity of having a gradient suitable for railway operation. The alternative of locks which would enable the vessels to link up with the shores on level terms at any state of the tide was therefore adopted. THE VESSELS. The Southern Railway have had three vessels especially built for this service. They have been named after three famous Thames ferries, namely, “Twickenham Ferry,” “Hampton Ferry” and “Shepperton Ferry.” They were built in the Neptune shipyard of Messrs Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson on the Tyne, and are fitted with Parson’s machinery and Yarrow water tube boilers. The ships are coal fired and in this connection Taylor automatic stokers have been fitted. Coal is particularly suitable lor a ferry as the coal waggons can - be run direct on to the ship and tipped into the hold. As the vessels are, of course, built with railway tracks on deck, bunkering will simply mean running trucks of coal aboard and tipping it into the bunkers. The ships will carry a train of 12 sleeping carriages, or, alternatively, ■it) loaded goods waggons. For this purpose four lines of rails over the greater part of the train space are provided. At the stern these converge into two tracks, by which the trains will pass on to the shore across a drawbridge at the end of the dock. To accommodate the trains the ship has to have a width of something over 60ft, and advantage is taken of this width to provide a certain amount of passenger accommodation on the deck above the train deck, and this deck will be fully equipped with restaurants, lounges, cabins, etc. The harbour conditions of the Channel ports restrict the extreme length to 260 ft, while certain considerations as to the possible use of the vessel limit the draught of water when ordinarily loaded to 12ft 6ins. The depth , from keel to train deck is 20ft, and the height of the train deck is 15ft 6in. The speed of the vessels on normal services will average 15 knots, but they are capable of obtaining over Ifii knots if required. The ships will have accommodation for 500 passengers and, in addition, a a special garage has been built on the after ends of the upper decks to accommodate 25 cars, which can be driven aboard by an inclined ramp. There will be no restrictions as to the emptying of petrol tanks, etc. Particular attention has been given to fire prevention. The motor car garage is entirely isolated and is constructed of steel throughout. The passenger accommodation on the upper deck is mainly of steel so arranged that separate sections can be isolated; while an elaborate provision of fire fighting appliances is made especially on the train deck. Each vessel is fully equipped with life saving appliances sufficient for a total number of lives on board of 550. She has four twats on each side of the ship, carried on gravity davits, making the boats Instantly available for use in emergency. A special feature of these gravity davits is that the boats they hold will be 6ft above deck level, thus forming no obstruction to the promenade. GOODS TRAFFIC. For goods traffic the ferry traffic will be especially beneficial. The avoidance of handling from truck to s-hip and vice versa at the ports will result in a considerable saving of time; moreover, conveyance in through vehicles will enable traders to effect savings in the elimination ef expensive packing, and consignments will be maintained intact be- ’ tween sending point and destination; with the preservation, in good condition, of merchandise, especially fruit, vegetables and other perishables, which require careful handling.