A reminder of the high days of railway travel, when rail and sea travel were integrated. I am too young to remember these great ocean services, but remember the excitement of travelling by train to a harbour station and the getting straight from the platform onto the boat to go to either France or the Isle of Wight. Sadly these interchanges are now all but gone as the rise of the car and the rising cost of keeping stations open for limited services forces their closure.
As well as its own Named Trains such as the Atlantic Coast Express, the Southern Railway ran many Ocean Liner Specials to carry the passengers from the liners that docked at the railway’s Southampton Docks to London. Arguably the most famous of these Ocean Liner Special’s was the Cunarder. The Cunard Line had some of the most glamorous ships of the era with the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth and that glamour and prestige begun when the passenger stepped on board the train at Waterloo.
View original post 323 more words
Pete's Favourite Things 