Golden Arrow
The Golden Arrow was a luxury train of the Southern Railway and later British Railways that linked London with Dover, where passengers took the ferry to Calais to join the Flèche dOr that took them onto Paris.
Overview
The Flèche dOr was introduced in 1926 as an all-first Pullman service between Paris and Calais. On 15 May 1929 the Southern Railway introduced the equivalent between London and Dover . The train usually consisted of 10 Pullman cars, hauled by one of the Southern Railways Lord Nelson, and took 98 minutes to travel between London and Dover. Because of the Wall Street Crash, ordinary first and third class carriages were soon added.
The train was stopped on the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. It resumed after the war on 15 April 1946. It originally ran with the pre-war Pullmans, but in 1951 a new set was built as part of the Festival of Britain.
In 1961 the Kent Coast elecrtification scheme the train became electric-hauled. A decline in demand saw the last Golden Arrow run on the 30 September 1972.
External links
Categories: Trains