Folkestone Steamers – The Paddle Steamers of the South Eastern Railway The dawn of the twentieth

The dawn of the twentieth century witnessed the building of a completely new class of cross-Channel ship driven by revolutionary steam turbines

seventies and eighties to the introduction of new purpose-built tonnage at the turn of the century

Rosslare to Rotterdam

charts two further  decades of ferry activity around Great Britain

Folkestone Steamers – The Paddle Steamers of the South Eastern Railway The dawn of the twentiethOn its way from London to the premier Channel port of Dover, the South Eastern Railway reached the village of Folkestone in June 1843. It had always been the intention to operate cross Channel steamer services from Dover but instead of an expected welcome, negotiations with the Harbour Commissioners (chaired by the Duke of Wellington) proved to be extremely difficult. To them, the arrival of the railway in the town was simply seen as an advantage from