The British Rail Class 99 were a fleet of train ferries, most of which were owned by Sealink, that carried rail vehicles between Britain and mainland Europe. When British Rail implemented the TOPS system for managing their operating stock, these ships were incorporated into the system in order to circumvent some of the restrictions of the application software. This allowed them to be counted as locomotives while carrying railway vehicles in the same way as a normal locomotive would haul a train.
There were fifteen BR Class 99s, used for carrying road and rail vehicles from Britain to the continent (road only vehicles did not receive TOPS numbers). They were of various ages and origins, but all carried the BR double arrow logo on their red funnels. This was generally set up so that the upper arrow pointed towards the bow, and so was reversed on the port side of the ship. The hull was painted blue, with "Sealink" written in large grey letters between the waterline and the deck. A grey stripe was painted on some around parts of the top of the hull, with the main body of the ship being grey or white. Unlike other non-steam locomotives with TOPS numbers, no yellow warning panels were provided. Names were painted on the bow and stern but the TOPS numbers were not visibly carried.
The number 99001 was reused for Nord Pas-de-Calais. [1]
The table shows the numbers allocated: [1]
Number | Name | Introduced | Builder / Ship yard | Type | Current Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
99 001 | Suffolk Ferry | New to LNER 1947 | John Brown and Company, Clydebank. [2] | TF/C/P | Scrapped 1981 |
99 001 | Nord Pas-de-Calais | New to SNCF in 1987 | Normed, Dunkerque | TF/VF/P | Active (Cyprus) |
99 002 | Norfolk Ferry | New to BR 1951 | John Brown and Company, Clydebank. [3] | TF/C/P | Scrapped 1983 |
99 003 | Essex Ferry | New to BR 1957 | John Brown and Company, Clydebank. [4] | TF/C/P | Scrapped 1983 |
99 004 | Cambridge Ferry | New to BR 1963 | Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Hebburn, England | TF/C/P | Scrapped 2003 |
99 005 | Speedlink Vanguard | New to Stena Line 1973; sold to Sealink 1980 | A.Vuyk and Zonen Scheepswerven B.V., Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands. [5] | TF/C | Scrapped 2013 |
99 006 | Twickenham Ferry | New to SR 1934 | Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne | P/VF/TF | Scrapped 1974 |
99 007 | Vortigern | New to BR 1969 | Swan Hunter, Wallsend | P/VF/TF | Scrapped 2005 |
99 008 | Anderida | New to Sealink 1971 | TF/C/P | In service (Greece) | |
99 009 | Shepperton Ferry | New to SR 1935 | Swan Hunter, Newcastle upon Tyne. [6] | P/VF/TF | Scrapped 1972 |
99 010 | Invicta | New to SR 1939 | William Denny & Bros Ltd, Dumbarton | P/VF/TF | Scrapped 1972 |
99 011 | Saint Germain | New to BR/SNCF 1951 | Helsingor Skibsvaerft og Maskinbyggeri A/S Helsingor, Denmark | P/VF/TF | Scrapped 1988 |
99 012 | Chartres | New to SNCF 1973 | P/VF/TF | Scrapped 2022 | |
99 013 | Saint Eloi | New to BR / Angleterre-Lorraine-Alsace Société Anonyme de Navigation (ALA) 1975 | Cantieri Navali di Pietra Ligure, Genoa, Italy | P/VF/TF | In service (Italy) |
99 014 | Transcontainer I | New to SNCF 1968 | Constructions Navales et Industrielles de la Mediterranee, La Seyne, France. | TF/C | Scrapped 2001 |
Key | |
---|---|
P | Passenger |
VF | Vehicle Ferry |
TF | Train Ferry |
C | Container ship |
There were also a number of other Sealink vessels which did not carry rail vehicles and so did not receive TOPS numbers.
While in traffic several vessels were involved in various incidents. Vortigern grounded on the approach to Ostend in 1982. [7] Sealink Vanguard collided with European Gateway on the approach to Harwich, also in 1982, causing serious damage to the latter vessel, which nearly sank altogether. [8] This was the most serious accident that a Class 99 was involved in while working for Sealink, resulting in six fatalities.
The mixed origins of the fleet meant that disposal was carried out in a patchy manner, and at no point were all 15 Class 99s in service. Instead, ships were cut up at any time after the 30-year-old mark, and so Sealink disposed of 6 prior to privatisation in 1984. No.99 009 Shepperton Ferry was withdrawn and broken up in Spain in 1972 [9] while No.99 010 Invicta was dismantled in the Netherlands in the same year. [10] No.99 006 Twickenham Ferry, the oldest member of the fleet, was withdrawn for scrap in 1974. [11] No.99 001 Suffolk Ferry, No.99 002 Norfolk Ferry and No.99 003 Essex Ferry were all withdrawn around 1980 and broken up shortly afterwards. [12]
The remaining eight members of the fleet (99 004/5/7/8/11-14) left British Rail ownership when Sealink was sold in 1984, after which they were invariably renamed (sometimes several times, making them harder to trace). The vessels were scattered across the world, with new homes including Cuba, Greece, Canada and Malta. Subsequently, six of the ferries (now all over 30 years old) have been broken up, but two were still in service as of 2023. No.99 008 Anderida has, since 1988, was owned by Cooperative de Transport Maritime et Aerien in Canada but has since been sold to the Greek company Ainaftis. She is the oldest survivor of the fleet, dating back to 1971. She now carries the name Armenistis [13] and retains several historic features. [14] [15] No.99 013 Sporades Star is now owned by Seajets. [16]
Meanwhile, No.99 011 St. Germain was dismantled in India in 1988. [17] No.99 014 Transcontainer I was broken up early in 2001, also in India, [18] while No.99 004 Cambridge Ferry met its end in Turkey in 2003 after working off Malta as Ita Uno and Sirio. [19] No.99 007 Vortigern moved to Greece for ferry services around the islands, for which she was renamed Express Milos. She finished her days as the Nisos Limnos; Greek regulations on the age of passenger ferries prompted her to be sold for scrap in India in 2004. [20]
99 005 Speedlink Vanguard was scrapped in 2013, [21] while 99 012 Chartres was scrapped in 2022. [22] As time goes by the surviving Class 99s (99008/13) will probably also be broken up.
Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Stena AB, itself a part of the Stena Sphere. It is a sister company to one of the world's leading tanker company Stena Bulk.
Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, and Portsmouth and Fishbourne and a fast passenger-only catamaran between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier. It is jointly owned by Basalt Infrastructure Partners and Fiera Infrastructure.
Roll-on/roll-off ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter. This is in contrast to lift-on/lift-off (LoLo) vessels, which use a crane to load and unload cargo.
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 MV Manx Viking / Nindawayma was a passenger, truck and car ferry, whose last active service was on Lake Huron, operated by the Owen Sound Transportation Company; under contract to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. In Canadian service she served the Highway 6 route between Tobermory and South Baymouth, Manitoulin Island from 1989 to 1992 alongside the MS Chi-Cheemaun.
HMS Pegasus was an aircraft carrier/seaplane carrier bought by the Royal Navy in 1917 during the First World War. She was laid down in 1914 by John Brown & Company of Clydebank, Scotland as Stockholm for the Great Eastern Railway Company, but construction was suspended at the start of the war. The ship was converted to operate a mix of wheeled aircraft from her forward flying-off deck and floatplanes that were lowered into the water. Pegasus spent the last year of the war supporting the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, but saw no combat. She spent most of 1919 and 1920 supporting British intervention against the Bolsheviks in North Russia and the Black Sea. The ship remained with the Mediterranean Fleet until 1924, but was placed in reserve in 1925 after a brief deployment to Singapore. Pegasus was sold for scrap in 1931.
The Port of Dover is a cross-channel ferry, cruise terminal, maritime cargo and marina facility situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 mi) away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime passenger ports, with 11.7 million passengers, 2.6 million lorries, 2.2 million cars and motorcycles and 80,000 coaches passing through it in 2017, and with an annual turnover of £58.5 million a year. This contrasts with the nearby Channel Tunnel, the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland, which now handles an estimated 20 million passengers and 1.6 million trucks per year.
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.
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1989.
Invicta was a passenger ferry built in 1939 for the Southern Railway and requisitioned on completion by the Admiralty for use as a troopship, serving in the Second World War as HMS Invicta. She was returned to the Southern Railway in 1945 and passed to British Railways in 1948. With the introduction to TOPS in 1968, Invicta was one of 14 "locomotives" classified as Class 99. She was allocated TOPS Number 99 010. Invicta served on the Dover – Calais route from 1946 until 1972 when she was withdrawn from service and scrapped.
Twickenham Ferry was a train ferry built in 1934 for the Southern Railway. She served during the Second World War as a minesweeper and returned to merchant service post-war, serving until 1974 when she was scrapped.
The M/F Sporades Star is a passenger ferry which belongs to Seajets. She was previously owned by Moby Lines and was named Moby Love. She was launched in 1972 as Saint Eloi but not completed until 1975 due to the bankruptcy of the shipyard that built her. She was built as a multi-purpose ferry, capable of carrying railway rolling stock as well as road vehicles.
TSS Caledonian Princess was a turbine steamship, built by William Denny & Brothers in 1961. A roll-on/roll-off car ferry, she primarily served the Stranraer - Larne route. Under Sealink ownership, however, she operated in both the English Channel and the Irish Sea. From 1984, she spent her later life as the Tuxedo Princess, a floating nightclub on the River Tyne. She never saw service under her final name, Prince, and was scrapped in 2008.
MS Al Andalus Express is a freight ferry owned by Eurotunnel and operated by Naviera Armas. She was built in 1987 by Chantiers du Nord et de la Mediterranee, Dunkirk for Societe Nationale des Chemin de Fer Francais (SNCF) as a multi-purpose passenger and roll-on roll-off ferry for lorries and railway vehicles. After the introduction of Eurotunnel there was no need for a train ferry, so SNCF was losing money running her. She was acquired by SNAT and Stena Sealink in 1989, which operated the Nord Pas-de-Calais until 31 December 1995. From 1 January 1996 SNAT operated as SeaFrance. The vessel was renamed SeaFrance Nord Pas-de-Calais. SeaFrance operated until November 2011, and was liquidated on 9 January 2012. Eurotunnel won the bid for the three of the former SeaFrance vessels the original name of the vessel was restored, dropping the SeaFrance prefix. MyFerryLink started running on 20 August 2012, although Nord Pas-de-Calais joined in November 2012 following a refit. Following MyFerryLink's cessation of operations, mostly cited due to financial issues, the ferry was used directly by Eurotunnel to carry hazmat cargoes that are not allowed on regular train services.
Associated Humber Lines (AHL) was created in 1935 to manage the services of various railway controlled shipping lines including port activities in the Humber area of the United Kingdom. The ownership of the respective vessels did not transfer to A.H.L and similarly the ports concerned, Hull, Goole and Grimsby, also remained under the control of the railway companies and their successors.
Cambridge Ferry was a 3,294 GRT train ferry that was built in 1963 for the British Railways Board. She was sold to Malta in 1992 and renamed Ita Uno. She was renamed Sirio in 1993 and reflagged to Panama in 1998. The ship was scrapped in Turkey in 2003.
Vortigern was a 4,797 GRT combined train and roll-on/roll-off ferry built by Swan Hunter in 1969 for the British Railways Board. She was sold to Greece in 1988 and served until 2004 under the names Milos Express, Express Milos and Nisos Lemnos. She was renamed Limon in 2004 and reflagged to Saint Vincent & the Grenadines. Limon was scrapped in 2005.
MV Αrmenistis is a ferry in service in Greece. She was built in 1971 as Anderida for Stena Line, serving under charter with Sealink until 1980. She then served under the names Truck Trader, Sealink and Mirela before she was sold to the Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA) in 1986 and renamed C.T.M.A. Voyageur. In January 2020 it was announced that the ship was sold to the Greek company Ainaftis. Her new name is Armenistis.
Windermere Lake Cruises is a boat company which provides leisure trips on Windermere in the central part of the English Lake District. It is based in Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria.
The Dover–Dunkerque train ferry was one of two regular rail freight train ferries that operated between the United Kingdom and Europe. The route connected the English port of Dover, with the French port of Dunkerque. After rationalisation of other Anglo-European train ferries, the Dover to Dunkerque sailing was the last to survive, though it ended its days on freight carryings only after the Night Ferry passenger service ended in 1980. The last Dover to Dunkerque wagon-freight ferry service became redundant upon the opening of the Channel Tunnel when freight was carried directly through the Channel Tunnel.