Golden Arrow
Encyclopedia
Boat train
A boat train is a passenger train which connects with a passenger ship, such as a ferry or ocean liner. Through ticketing is normally available. -Notable named boat trains:*The Flèche d'Or Paris Gare du Nord to Calais...
of the Southern Railway and later British Railways. It linked London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, where passengers took the ferry to Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
to join the of the Chemin de Fer du Nord
Chemin de Fer du Nord
Chemin de Fer du Nord , often referred to simply as the Nord company, was a rail transport company created in September 1845, in Paris, France. It was owned by among others de Rothschild Frères of France, N M Rothschild & Sons of London, England, Hottinger, Laffitte and Blount...
and later SNCF
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
which took them on to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
History
Pullman (car or coach)
In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars which were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company from 1867 to December 31, 1968....
service between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
. On 15 May 1929, the Southern Railway introduced the equivalent between London and Dover. The train usually consisted of 10 British Pullman
Pullman train (UK)
Pullman trains in Great Britain were mainline luxury railway services that operated with first-class coaches and a steward service, provided by the British Pullman Car Company.-Origins:...
cars, hauled by one of the Southern Railway’s Lord Nelson
SR Lord Nelson Class
The SR class LN or Lord Nelson class is a type of 4-cylinder 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Richard Maunsell in 1926. They were intended for Continental boat trains between London and Dover harbour, but were also later used for express passenger work to the South-West...
class locomotives, and took 98 minutes to travel between London and Dover. Because of the impact of air travel and 'market forces' on the underlying economy, ordinary first- and third-class carriages were added in 1931. Similarly the first-class-only ferry, Canterbury, was modified to allow other classes of passenger.
The train service ceased at the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. It resumed after the war on 15 April 1946, initially running with the pre-war Pullmans and the Trianon Bar car, a converted twelve-wheeled Pullman. In 1951 a new set of Pullmans was built, as part of British Railways' celebration of the Festival of Britain
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...
.
In 1961, with the Kent Coast electrification scheme, the train became electric-hauled. This allowed an acceleration to 80 minutes for the down service and 82 minutes for the up service. A decline in demand for rail travel between London and Paris saw the last Golden Arrow run on 30 September 1972, and in its later years only the first class section was advertised as a Pullman service.
Preservation
The preserved Bluebell RailwayBluebell Railway
The Bluebell Railway is a heritage line running for nine miles along the border between East and West Sussex, England. Steam trains are operated between and , with an intermediate station at .The railway is managed and run largely by volunteers...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
runs a "Golden Arrow" train with Pullman cars "Car 64 (Christine)", "Fingall", "Car 76 (Lillian)", and an ex-LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
BGZ.
The main-line service was revived for a one-off event on 6 May 1994 when it formed part of the celebrations for the inauguration of the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
. It was hauled by the steam locomotive Britannia
BR standard class 7 70000 Britannia
British Railways standard class 7 , number 70000 Britannia is a preserved steam locomotive.-British Railways:...
.
See also
- Night FerryNight FerryThe Night Ferry was an international sleeper train between London Victoria and Paris Gare du Nord . It was operated by the SNCF and the Southern Railway then, following nationalisation on 1 January 1948, the Southern Region of British Railways.-Rolling stock:Introduced on the night of 5 October...
- sleeper train between London and Paris/Brussels (1936-1980) - EurostarEurostarEurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....
- train service via the Channel Tunnel (since 1994)
External links
- SEMG page - 2nd page
- http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/transport/golden_arrow.htm
- Bluebell Railway's Golden Arrow train.