Well Alan, who would have thought you would still be getting replies 5+yrs after your first post.
Email me some time. Bob.
mushroomman:
Hi Jonny, thanks for sharing the interesting pictures with us all.I once went on a boat in 1970 from Western Docks in Dover to Dunkirk, I seem to think that this may be the same boat that the photos were taken on.
I think the boat or the train was called the Golden Arrow, or some thing like that. It was owned and run by British Rail and French Rail which was S.F.R.C.or S.C.N.F. or something similar and it used to carry The Oreint Express. I remember seeing the railway trucks being shunted on to the boat but I cant remember seeing the engine on the boat.
If you look on picture 2 you can see the railway lines on the deck.Are there any Railway Anoraks out there who can confirm this ■■?
Regards Steve.
[/quote]
Steve, I was a fireman before a lorry driver and I can say that only the carriages or goods wagons went on the ferries. ps I’m still a trainspotter or Anorak as they are called today.
I think the boat or the train was called the Golden Arrow, or some thing like that. It was owned and run by British Rail and French Rail which was S.F.R.C.or S.C.N.F. or something similar and it used to carry The Oreint Express. I remember seeing the railway trucks being shunted on to the boat but I cant remember seeing the engine on the boat.
The consortium of French and British rail was SNCF or to give it it’s full title (I will have a go at this), Society National Chemin Francais, or French railway company, they we’re reverse on/drive off boats, when loading you had to back between the rail trucks which were loaded first. There was a company from the UK somewhere that exported live rabbits and used this service, the boat used to reek of the smell of rabbit urine and, believe me, it wasn’t pleasant, the driver told me they were restricted to this service simply because of the smell.
I cannot remember the names of the boats, can someone on here jog my memory?
Lance Biscomb:
locker line 32 ton in the box sayboy 142 forer plus peter piper 35 ton
What exactly is this about?
BRS FH66:
mushroomman:
Hi Jonny, thanks for sharing the interesting pictures with us all.I once went on a boat in 1970 from Western Docks in Dover to Dunkirk, I seem to think that this may be the same boat that the photos were taken on.
I think the boat or the train was called the Golden Arrow, or some thing like that. It was owned and run by British Rail and French Rail which was S.F.R.C.or S.C.N.F. or something similar and it used to carry The Oreint Express. I remember seeing the railway trucks being shunted on to the boat but I cant remember seeing the engine on the boat.
If you look on picture 2 you can see the railway lines on the deck.Are there any Railway Anoraks out there who can confirm this ■■?
Regards Steve.
Steve, I was a fireman before a lorry driver and I can say that only the carriages or goods wagons went on the ferries. ps I’m still a trainspotter or Anorak as they are called today.
[/quote]
Hi BRS FH66, thanks for your reply which has just sparked another ferry good memory for me. 
I remember one summers afternoon sat in my camping chair in the queue at Zeebrugge waiting to load on the ferry when I looked over at the row of trucks next but one to me and saw a huge cloud of steam and a loud hissing noise. I jumped up thinking W.T.F. was that and I went to have a look around. It was a steam lorry waiting to board the boat, the first steam lorry that I had ever seen close up. The driver had thrown a bucket of water over the coals to extinguish the fire as the coals had to be cold before it could be towed onto the boat. The driver was with girl who was about in her thirties wearing a boiler suit and seemed very enthusiastic with what they were doing even though she was covered in coal dust with a bit of a dirty face. The steam lorry had a flat back with a few bags of coal on it and it was painted blue. They seemed a really nice couple who sounded like they had London accents and told me that they had been to a show in Brussels or somewhere in Belgium. This would of been about 1982ish and it’s sadly it’s one of those times when I should of took a photo. 
Regards Steve.
got anymore pics of matintrux johny■■?
I’m feeling seasick already!(Baaaaarrrrff)
Looks like a few have failed, yes lots n lots. Seasick i watched a frenchman open that little door walk out and back,why.
now no photos try again
That was Dover to Calais. Had something to eat with the crew and never saw them again,apart from the one that walked out of that little tiny door. Yes it was a bit strange. Only truck on there.
See if they last more than 24 hours. Hi dreva i,ve just posted a few photos this weekend, if you look across photo/old timers/euro you will see more over the next few weeks.Some i,ll try and put words too,so that could be summer time 
. There will be a few that will be strange but true. the more i think about tis ferry crossing, this could come under very strange
cheers johny look forward to more pics and storys
Is that one of the old French boats that we used to get from Dover Western Docks??
To answer your original question, I’d say the Schiafino (There was another name but it got ZB’ed ) out of the “other” Oostende would carry nasty stuff that the other ferry companies wouldn’t allow on their boats.
I once had a hat-trick of refusals to ship.
Calais, Zeebrugge and Oostende, so I got to keep the match ball and went on the Schiafino. 
dieseldave:
Is that one of the old French boats that we used to get from Dover Western Docks??To answer your original question, I’d say the Schiafino (There was another name but it got ZB’ed
I once had a hat-trick of refusals to ship.
Calais, Zeebrugge and Oostende, so I got to keep the match ball and went on the Schiafino.
Dave, wasn’t the Schiafino also known as the Parafino, due to the gallons of free red plonk that they gave you with the meal?.
I remember the first time that I went on this boat, we were told that the steak was actually horse meat, and the other drivers only ate the chips and veggies. I tried it and I thought it was O.K. ( no Dave I didnt have to gallop off to the bog). and yes it did go from Western Docks in Dover. 
Hi Jonny, thanks for sharing the interesting pictures with us all.
I
Hi Jonny, thanks for sharing the interesting pictures with us all.
I once went on a boat in 1970 from Western Docks in Dover to Dunkirk, I seem to think that this may be the same boat that the photos were taken on.
I think the boat or the train was called the Golden Arrow, or some thing like that. It was owned and run by British Rail and French Rail which was S.F.R.C.or S.C.N.F. or something similar and it used to carry The Oreint Express. I remember seeing the railway trucks being shunted on to the boat but I cant remember seeing the engine on the boat.
If you look on picture 2 you can see the railway lines on the deck.
Are there any Railway Anoraks out there who can confirm this ■■?
Regards Steve.
[/quote]
I think you meant SNCF
I remember tales of the boat train from Oostende from reading Hercule Poirot 
I have been on the ferry with the railway on too. And another one was the ferry from Rodby to Puttgarten which had rail trucks on board
Wheel Nut:
I think you meant SNCFI remember tales of the boat train from Oostende from reading Hercule Poirot
I have been on the ferry with the railway on too. And another one was the ferry from Rodby to Puttgarten which had rail trucks on board
Thanks for that Wheel Nut, it was S.N.C.F.
Hercule Poirot, did he drive for Chet Trux , dont answer that.
mushroomman:
Dave, wasn’t the Schiafino also known as the Parafino, due to the gallons of free red plonk that they gave you with the meal?.
Sorry mushroomman, being a teetotaller, I’ve no recollection of how much wine was on the menu.
mushroomman:
I remember the first time that I went on this boat, we were told that the steak was actually horse meat, and the other drivers only ate the chips and veggies. I tried it and I thought it was O.K. ( no Dave I didnt have to gallop off to the bog). and yes it did go from Western Docks in Dover.
My memory of this is slightly different. IIRC, the boat in the pics went from Dover Western Docks to Dunkirk, whilst the Schiafino went from a separate dock the the RM boats in Oostende. I’m fairly sure that the Schiafino used to dock in a corner of Dover Eastern Docks. As I recall, the food on the Schiafino was very good indeed and came in “Dave” sized portions. 
TBF, I preferred the Schiafino to the old French tubs from Dover West.
Sorry Dave, I stand corrected 
. Your dead right, the Schiafino did go to Eastern Docks.
I do remember that if the boat was full, as it only took twelve drivers, they would give you twenty pounds and take you in their mini bus to get the Sealink boat which went to Western Docks in Dover , from where you could get a taxi to Eastern Docks, arriving there before the Schiafino offloaded.
There was never a shortage of volunteers to do this, as twenty pound was nearly a days pay.