Hook of Holland is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; hoek means "corner" and was the word in use before the word kaap – "cape", from Portuguese cabo – became Dutch. The English translation using Hook is a false cognate of the Dutch Hoek, but has become commonplace. It is located at the mouth of the New Waterway shipping canal into the North Sea. The town is administered as a district of the municipality of Rotterdam. Its district covers an area of 16.7 km2, of which 13.92 km2 is land. On 1 January 1999 it had an estimated population of 9,400.
The Rheingold ('Rhinegold') was a named train that operated between Hook of Holland, near Rotterdam, and Geneva, Switzerland, a distance of 1,067 kilometres (663 mi), until 1987. Another section of the train started in Amsterdam and was coupled to the Hoek cars in Utrecht. The Rheingold ran along the Rhine River via Arnhem, Netherlands, and Cologne, Germany, using special luxury coaches. It was named after Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold opera, which romanticized the Rhine. From 1965 until the train's discontinuation in 1987, the Rheingold was a first-class-only Trans Europ Express (TEE) train.
EuroCity (EC) is an international train category and brand for European inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. Each EC train is operated by more than one European Union or Swiss rail company, under a multilateral co-operative arrangement, and all EC trains link important European cities with each other.
The Trans Europ Express, or Trans-Europe Express (TEE), was an international first-class railway service in western and central Europe that was founded in 1957 and ceased in 1995. At the height of its operations, in 1974, the TEE network comprised 45 trains, connecting 130 different cities, from Spain in the west to Austria in the east, and from Denmark to Southern Italy.
Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland.
The Mayflower line is a railway branch line in the east of England that links Manningtree, on the Great Eastern Main Line, to Harwich Town. During peak times, many services connect to or from the main line and its London terminus at Liverpool Street. The Mayflower line has six stations, including the two termini, and is situated within the county of Essex.
Harwich International railway station is a railway station on the Mayflower Line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line, the station serves Harwich International Port in Essex, England. It is 68 miles 72 chains (110.88 km) from London Liverpool Street, between Wrabness to the west and Dovercourt to the east. Its three-letter station code, HPQ, derives from its original name, Harwich Parkeston Quay.
Dutchflyer is an integrated passenger service between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Formerly known as Amsterdam Express, Dutchflyer is a rail/sea/rail service operated jointly by Stena Line, the Dutch state railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen and its UK subsidiary Greater Anglia, and the Rotterdam metro and bus company Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram.
Stena Line Holland BV is a subsidiary of Stena Line that operates ferry routes between Harwich and Killingholme on the east coast of England and Hook of Holland and Europort in the Netherlands. The head office is in Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. Apart from during the two world wars there has been a continuous service operating between these two countries, initially by the railway companies serving the east coast of England together with Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland a Dutch ferry company. In 1990 Stena Line had purchased both parts and Stena Line Holland BV came into being.
The MS Normandy was a ferry, last owned by the Singapore-based oil service company Equinox Offshore Accommodation, under charter to the Morocco-based ferry operator Ferrimaroc. She was built in 1981 by Götaverken, Gothenburg, Sweden, and first entered service in 1982 as MS Prinsessan Birgitta for Stena Sessan Line. She also served under the names MS St Nicholas and MS Stena Normandy.
The Hook Continental was a passenger train running between London's Liverpool Street Station and Harwich Parkeston Quay where it connected with the night ferry sailing to the Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. It was introduced as a named express by the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1927, and was part of the marketing strategy pushing the concept of almost seamless travel from London overnight to numerous European destinations utilising the company's own ships and the rail connections from the Hook of Holland.
A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available.
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1989.
The Étoile du Nord was an international express train. It linked Paris Nord in Paris, France, with Brussels, Belgium, and, for most of its existence, also with Amsterdam CS in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its name meant literally "Star of the North", and alluded not only to its route heading north from Paris, but also to one of its original operators, the Chemin de Fer du Nord.
The Saphir was an express train operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn linking the port of Ostend with Dortmund as part of a link between London and the Ruhr. The name Saphir, German for sapphire, refers to the Belgian gemstone industry.
The Rembrandt was an express train that linked Amsterdam in the Netherlands, with Munich in Germany and later Chur in Switzerland. The train was named after the renowned Dutch painter Rembrandt. For its first 16 years it was a first-class-only Trans Europ Express, becoming a two-class InterCity in 1983 and finally a EuroCity in 1987.
The Erasmus was an express train that linked The Hague, the Dutch seat of government, with Munich in Germany. The train was named for the Dutch Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus.
The Admiraal de Ruijter was an international train service linking Amsterdam with London.
Suffolk Ferry was a train ferry built for the London and North Eastern Railway in 1947. She was subsequently operated by British Railways and Sealink before being withdrawn in 1980 and scrapped in Belgium in 1981.
