Train Ferries

[AngusDe]

 

Whilst tidying up, I've found this old magazine, bought in Germany back in 1999, during my 2nd posting to Gütersloh.

 

I've always found train ferry operations fascinating, and during my first stint in Germany (86-93) I travelled a bit in northern Germany and Denmark before the big Danish bridge and tunnel crossings were built so there was a few train ferry operations still on the go.

 

A quick Google doesn't suggest any definitive web sites as to what train ferry routes are still in regular operation in Northern Europe, does anyone know?

There are some cracking layout ideas in the magazine special, I'm having a play with some of them in AnyRail at the moment. There are some pics of the ubiquitous 50s German rail bus on small rail ferries going to small islands, the ferries bear a passing resemblance to the Langley kit.

 

Angus

[eastwestdivide]

Have a look at:

 

www.egtre.info and the section on border crossings, which covers the train ferries between Germany/Denmark at http://egtre.info/wiki/Border_Crossings:_Denmark_-_Germany

 

similar info at: http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/lines_germany-denmark.php

 

And the Italy-Sicily ferries still operate too, but not sure where there's really good info. Bit sketchy at Rail Europe: http://www.raileurope.com/blog/8158-the-train-to-sicily-ferry-from-messina-to-sicily-2

There seems to have been a threat to withdraw them a couple of years back, but a quick check with the DB booking site shows at least two overnight trains still running, plus a day train, all from Rome

[eastwestdivide]

Just remembered I have Today's Railways - Europe Feb 2013 (Issue 206), which has a 6-page article about the Sassnitz train ferries. It covers the historical ones as well as the current ones:

 - Four or five times a day to Sweden (1435mm gauge), mostly freight wagons but also the seasonal Berlin-Malmö passenger service

 - One round trip a week to Russia with the 1520mm gauge ferry which now runs to Ust Luga near St Petersburg

[Joseph_Pestell]

Aged 7 (50 years ago), I went on holiday with my parents to a Baltic resort in Germany (Timmendorf). On the road down to the beach from our hotel (B road standard), there was an ungated level crossing over a single track. Sleepy branchline? Not a bit of it. We nearly got run down one day by a long train of sleeping cars on a Copenhagen-Rome train which had crossed on the train ferry. I have been rather interested in train ferries ever since and later (aged 18) had the pleasure of using that service.

[EddieB]

There is also the remains of a train ferry service on the Tinnsjø (lake) in Norway, once the only connection of the Rjukan railway with the outside world.  The railway itself had been built to serve the Norsk Hydro plant at Rjukan, which in turn the Germans had switched to production of heavy water during WWII.  Thanks to the heroic efforts of some remarkable men, production at the plant was halted by sabotage and the only consignment of heavy water sent to the bottom of the lake after a bomb was detonated aboard the SF Hydro.  (See the film "The Heroes of Telemark" for the Hollywood version, or Ray Mears' "The Real Heroes of Telemark" book/documentary for the true story).

 

After the war the rail and ferry service continued to the serve the plant and its peace-time production, until the railway closed in the early 'nineties.  The line is now a heritage operation, which includes two of the ferries being preserved.  (My only visit was after and before reopening, when the ferry terminal at Mael was quietly rotting away).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rjukan_Line

[Fat Controller]

I believe this one may have been in use until recently:-

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Fos-sur-Mer/@43.4132941,4.7453767,1357m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x12b619721d5cf72d:0xea40197d819691d?hl=en

Built in 1958, it connected the Salins-du-Midi  salt pans at Salins du Giraud with the main SNCF network at Fos Sur Mer on the other side of the Rhone. It currently seems to be closed, though the ferries seem to have been maintained.

There was a line that ran into Salins du Giraud from the north, but this closed long ago- we once camped on the track bed of the former station.

I think it was cable-hauled, as is the road ferry upstream.

[eastwestdivide]

That French one - it looks from the google photos as if there are piles of ripped-up sleepers on the NE side.

 

Also, a discussion on train ferries from a google groups forum thing: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/misc.transport.rail.misc/0pXi6yLNf2k but dating back to 2004

[Fat Controller]

That French one - it looks from the google photos as if there are piles of ripped-up sleepers on the NE side.

 

Also, a discussion on train ferries from a google groups forum thing: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/misc.transport.rail.misc/0pXi6yLNf2k but dating back to 2004

I fear you may be correct about the ripped-up sleepers. The salt-pans apparently produce about a million tonnes per annum; what a shame that none should now go by rail. 

[FelixM]

I coincidentally saw this train tonight at Berlin main station cellar level:

 

IMG_3541 von – FelixM – auf Flickr

 

IMG_3542 von – FelixM – auf Flickr

 

1962 vintage Holzroller with 3 Swedish coaches which are wider but shorter than usual 26,4 m coaches. The train is  to use the Sassnitz ferry to its destination Malmö Central.

 

Kind regards

Felix

[Edd.Turner]

From Puttgarden (Germany) to Rødby (Denmark) there is a ferry - the ICE from Hamburg to Copenhagen uses it.

 

I was on it 2 weeks ago