3-028-497 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Proposed Channel Railway Ferry: station and pier at Dover, 1870. '...a steam railway-ferry from Dover to a point of the opposite French coast, near Cape Grisnez, [has been] proposed by Mr. John Fowler...[The] proposed harbour at Dover...is thoroughly sheltered against every gale...[and] will be furnished with a graving-dock, and a covered berth for the steamers, with hydraulic apparatus for transferring the trains from the railway to the steamer, and vice versa...[There] is to be a short connecting railway by which the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, equally with the South-Eastern Railway, will be connected with the new harbour and the steamers...The depth of water...will be sufficient for the entrance and exit of the steamers...The practical results of this railway-ferry link of international communication would be...as regards time, a saving of at least two hours...These savings of distance and time are important, but they are comparatively insignificant to the perfect certainty and perfect comfort which will be obtained in all weathers and under all circumstances by the proposed combination of harbours, boats, and mechanical arrangements. The total expenditure for this great work will be about £2,000,000'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.