jimbob Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 Does anybody know the train formation for the old London - Paris night ferry service ? The British locos are easy enough to find but are the suitable French stock avaliable from European model firms ? Any ideas anyone, just one of those silly projects that enter your head when you have nothing to do ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 I can remember the Golden Arrow during the day when I was a kid. Spam can loco and Pullman carriages. I can remember the French wagons lit in the carriage sidings at Victoria during my commuting days. They don't seem much different to our Pullmans apart from the livery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbob Posted November 8, 2017 Author Share Posted November 8, 2017 The only thing l can discover was that the SNCF vehicles were specialy built for the British loading gauge in the fities. There were sleeping cars (wagon lit) and day cars, normal coaches on the train and one or two luggage vans with birdcage style roofs. There was also an advertised resturant car for sleeper passengers and buffet car for the plebs. I know at one stage they used Southern utility vans on the service instead of French one. Would this have been the only instance of UK vehicles being used in Europe at that time? Apparently the service was often double headed in steam days due to the weight of the train. It took eleven hours London to Paris, 9pm departure London arriving at 9am Paris time. Now you can pop over for lunch and be back home for supper. The Golden Arrow was the daytime version of the service, all British Pullmans, and passengers alighted at Dover for the ferry rather than the train going on the ferry its self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 (edited) Thanks Jimbob. The night service would have been well past my bedtime I'm afraid. Interesting stuff. Have you seen this? http://www.eastbank.org.uk/ferry.htm Edited November 8, 2017 by roddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbob Posted November 9, 2017 Author Share Posted November 9, 2017 Thanks for the link Roddy, very interesting. Followed the link to ls models in Belgium as well but the google translate does not understand railway talk very well ! Trouble being that everything is HO anyway. Its an interesting train service that l have never seen modeled here. Probably to much of a niche market for commercial production as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ba14eagle Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 I recall, that in its very earliest days, Model Rail magazine contained some articles about the Night Ferry and its stock - they may even have sold some kits of the vehicles? Sorry I cant help with issue numbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riddles Posted November 9, 2017 Share Posted November 9, 2017 Fortunately there's an excellent online index to articles in Model Rail magazine at http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/ModelRail . Entering "Night Ferry" in the search box gives the following results:- 2004 72 October 32 Night Train to Paris, Ferry Trains Prototype info on the 'Night Ferry' sleeping car express to Paris Prototype upto 1980 3-7 Prototype Information 2004 73 November 42 CIWL Class F sleeping car Modelling train ferry traffic with the Model Rail 'Night Ferry' kit 4mm 00 5-7 Modelling-Coaches 2004 74 December 66 Building the Night Ferry Kit - 2 Completion of the Class F sleeping car Model Rail 'Night Ferry' kit 4mm 00 5-6 Modelling-Coaches 2006 97 November 56 Fourgon Conclusion Complete your 'Night Ferry' set with these new SNCF luggage vans 4mm 00 1970s-1980s 7-8 Modelling-Wagons 2007 107 August 36 Continental Baggage Building the latest 4mm scale brass kit in the Southern Railway 'Night Ferry' range from MARC Models. 4mm 00 1930s 3 Modelling-Wagons Now all you have to do is find those issues! Regards, Riddles 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbob Posted November 11, 2017 Author Share Posted November 11, 2017 Marcs models still do the sleeping cars and forgons as unbuilt kits or they can supplied built, both either challange my kit building skill or my wallet so it looks like one of those "if only " projects. Still it was an interesting to do a bit of research on it. In my minds eye a bit like the Orient Express l imagine spies in dinner jackets and glamours women in evening gowns although in fact it seems far from that and being woken up in the middle of the night by burly dockers chaining the coaches down on the ferry and again at the other side probably did'nt make it the most restfull a nights sleep either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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