The Night Ferry was Britain's first international passenger train. Service commenced on the evening of the 14th of October 1936 and offered overnight sleeping car service between London and Paris and eventually from 1956, to Brussels. The service was of course suspended during the period of hostilities. The Night Ferry ceased operation on the 31st of October 1980.
In the latter part of the 1970's, the train was hauled between London Victoria and Dover Western Docks, originally named Dover Marine, by either a Class 33 diesel electric or Class 73 electro diesel locomotive. Southbound, the first vehicle was a Mk. 1 Brake Composite Corridor (BCK S21270 or S21273), a minimum of two CIWL Type F sleeping cars and one or two SNCF vans. The Mk.1 coach was included in the consist only for the conveyance of the guard as the Night Ferry was exclusively for customers having a reserved sleeping car berth. The Mk. I coach had its gangways modified to align with the sleeping cars. At Dover Western Docks the locomotive and BCK were detached and a Class 09 shunter would propel the sleeping cars and vans on to the ship for the crossing of the English Channel to Dunkerque. The reverse of this operation took place the following morning with the return working to London Victoria.
By its nature, operating at night and on an extremely erratic schedule due to numerous disputes, the Night Ferry was quite difficult to see, never mind capture on film. Despite all this, these photos were taken at London Victoria in the evening and Dover Western Docks in the very late evening and the extremely early morning during the final years of operation of the Night Ferry, between 1977 and 1980.
A bygone era ....
