"Troy Steadman" wrote in message
m...
Didn't there used to be trains that instead of disgorging their
passengers at the docks actually drove (drove?) steamed on to sidings
on the decks of ships then steamed off Stena-like to continue their
journey across Europe?

Yes you are correct. In 1990 I was on a train from Denmark to Sweden and
instead of getting of the train to board the boat, they simply loaded the
carriages onto the train, there were rails imbedded into the deck

It took a while to chain the carriages down and it was a bit disconcerting
to be sitting in a railway carriage that was going up and down as opposed to
rocking from side to side. 1 person in my compartment didn't even realise we
were on a boat, it was night time, and went to use the toilet, before the
days of retention tanks.

It was a very smooth operation and a very strange experience

Theres three routes in Europe that still use train ferries:

Puttgarden-Raedby between Germany and Denmark.
All Hamburg-Copenhagen EuroCitys use this route. The Train justs get driven
on to the deck and then driven off at the other end and shares the deck with
other cars and lorries, if you want you can get of the train and use the
facilities on the ferry or just wonder about the deck, its quite a novelty
seeing a train sat next to an HGV on a ferry deck.
See:http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/dk/...-5092/P1010192
..jpg
&
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/dk/...92/dsb5285.jpg

Villa San Giovanni-Messina between Italy and Sicilia.
All through trains from the Italian mainland to Sicilia use this route, your
shunted in and out of the ship on to the rail deck and you have to remain on
the train for this one.
See: http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/it/misc/ferry/pix.html

And finally from Trelleborg-Sassnitz between Sweden and Germany, used by the
nightly Berlin Night Express. Dont know much abut this one.

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 21:10:19 +0000 (UTC), "Boogaloo"
wrote:


snip

Villa San Giovanni-Messina between Italy and Sicilia.
All through trains from the Italian mainland to Sicilia use this route, your
shunted in and out of the ship on to the rail deck and you have to remain on
the train for this one.

Not true. You can get out and visit the bar, or stand at the railings
and watch the sun set over Sicily, as I did about 3 months ago.

See: http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/it/misc/ferry/pix.html


--

Regards

Mike

mikedotroebuckatgmxdotnet