
Train ferry - keeganjw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_ferry
======
warpech
There's also the reverse, a boat train:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_inclined_plane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_inclined_plane).
A very old inclined plane makes a nice day trip in Poland.

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scottdupoy
Also if you don't want to sail your boat across an ocean you can sail it into
a big boat with a load of other boats and just collect it at the other side!

[https://www.cnbc.com/id/100758754](https://www.cnbc.com/id/100758754)

~~~
stickfigure
A boatboat!

[https://xkcd.com/2043/](https://xkcd.com/2043/)

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CydeWeys
In case you couldn't tell by all the old-timey photos, train ferries are, if
not outright obsolete, at least way past their prime.

NYC and NJ, for example, used to have hundreds of wharves all along the Hudson
and East River for loading and offloading train ferries. They're almost all
gone. What killed them? 18-wheel trucks with interchangeable trailers. It
turns out it's much easier to handle last-mile distribution using trucks that
use bridges and tunnels than to float train cars across rivers.

For some related history, see:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVx59XOZtSA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVx59XOZtSA)

~~~
r00fus
Hasn't the standardized shipping container (ie, one container size) over
trains also killing the need for train ferries?

So migrating from one standard (tracks) to another (container) that
encapsulates the previous one?

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NickNameNick
Not everything fits in the iso container format.

Even if it did, you still need to move rolling-stock from one rail system to
another from time to time.

There's a rail ferry in my city [0], and a couple of link-spans to support
rail ferries [1].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interislander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interislander)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkspan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linkspan)

~~~
Symbiote
The article shows there are several between Scandinavia and continental Europe
for freight use.

I'd guess they're good for carrying things like wood and ore.

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leoh
I have been on a train ferry between Denmark and Germany during trip from
Copenhagen to Hamburg. I hadn't looked up the route in advance and it blew my
mind. The train just "drove" onto the boat. Then, we could get off and move
around on the boat. You could go up on deck and there were a lot of shops.

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muro
Rostock, I assume on the German side. Took the ferry with my car, was curious
about the tracks at the edge of harbour.

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atomwaffel
I think Puttgarden–Rødby is more likely. It used to be served by diesel ICE
trains and it was really fun to ride onto a big old ferry on one of these
unusually short ultra-sleek trains, get off the train, walk a lap around it,
then go up to the open-air deck and stretch your legs a bit.

There’s still a direct Hamburg–Copenhagen connection via that ferry, but it’s
now a normal Eurocity.

~~~
princekolt
I took that diesel ICE in 2008. It blew my mind as well. Another thing I
noticed about that train is that it seemed to have discrete gears. I don't
know if that's true but my impression was that the train would accelerate and
change gears just like in a car/truck (as opposed to a diesel-electric train
where the diesel engine generates electricity for an electric motor that
drives the wheels).

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Animats
Diesel locomotives with mechanical transmissions are rare today, but they do
exist. Hitachi still makes such transmissions.[1] Here's a train in the UK
equipped that way.[2]

[1] [http://www.hitachi-
nico.jp/en/product/land/transmission/dies...](http://www.hitachi-
nico.jp/en/product/land/transmission/diesel_locomotive/index.html) [2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdFCQE61mSA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdFCQE61mSA)

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hotcrossbunny
I'm about 20 years too late, but me and my boys still think it's flipping cool
to drive our car onto a train that goes under the sea to France. Love it.

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scottdupoy
The Picton ferry between the North and South islands of New Zealand does this
too.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interislander](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interislander)

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antirez
Trivia: for some reason it is a tradition, when taking the trail ferry between
Sicily and Calabria (the one that basically binds the Sicilian island with the
remaining of Italy), to eat arancini (stuffed rice balls
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arancini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arancini))
at the bar inside the boat.

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grahamel
There are some great pictures here of the train ferry dock in Dover (UK)

[http://www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk/the-dover-train-
ferr...](http://www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk/the-dover-train-ferry-dock/)

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rmason
They don't list the SS Badger which run from Ludington, Michigan to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin and handles both rail cars and automobiles. I've taken it dozens of
times and you can't claim to be a Michigander if you haven't ridden it.

[https://www.ssbadger.com/](https://www.ssbadger.com/)

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crawdog
Port Costa, CA used to have a train ferry in the gold rush era. If you ever
have a chance to visit it's a cool little town. Hidden just south of Martinez
in the Bay Area.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solano_(ferry)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solano_\(ferry\))

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paradoxparalax
And Continental Brazil still doesn't have even one damn thing you can call a
passenger's train. It's a Shame. I think the Chinese Railway System will reach
Brazil before Brazil even puts one single real passenger's train up...And
brazil is almost the size of China...It's unbelievable, and so sad for a
brazilian who likes trains. I have spent 2000 hours inside Trains restaurant
wagons and smoking area's "wagon-gaps" in China alone, not counting in Europe,
and It's so sad to see the state of the passenger's trains in Brazil, It
almost makes me cry...

:some edited mispelling, some kept.

~~~
paradoxparalax
can't help with not going a bit on this rant, because it really hurts, so
Brazil, please just do like the smart African countries do, let the Chinese
bring thousands of workers and then they will go back to spend the Chinese New
Year with their families and let a railroad built there, that will work for
longer than the lifetime of these workers, and they probably will live longer
than what you expect. Come on, there is no point in protecting your workforce
if you let your workforce collecting empty cans all day for a dollar to buy
the bread of today Anyway!!! You are not protecting anything or any workers,
much the contrary, and you still don't get a single working train...It's like
Einstein said, there are no limits for Stupidity, indeed...

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adfm
San Francisco’s Pier 43 Ferry Arch is a prime example. Prior to the Golden
Gate Bridge and the post-war boom, it quite literally fed the city and
surrounding area. The Embarcadero “E” line runs on the old Belt Railroad that
connected to Pier 43.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_43_Ferry_Arch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_43_Ferry_Arch)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Belt_Railroad](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Belt_Railroad)

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duck
Had to see this in action:

The New York Jersey Rail Car Float Operation from NYC to NJ
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWTXrpgYO4Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWTXrpgYO4Y)

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SeaKing1
A customer of ours pulls trains on barges from Seattle to Alaska. As well as
trucks, mining equipment, school busses, fishing boats, etc. It is pretty cool
to see the barges stacked tall, and imagine them pulled 1,500 miles to Alaska.
The trains drive onto the barge via tracks and are stored underneath the other
cargo.

Pictures: [https://www.alaskarails.org/industries/seattle-
dock.html](https://www.alaskarails.org/industries/seattle-dock.html)

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ForHackernews
I've ridden the train ferry between Sicily and mainland Italy.

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paganel
There’s also one in Eastern Turkey on the Van Lake [1], it’s on my to-visit-
as-soon-as-possible list

[1]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Van_Ferry](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Van_Ferry)

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wyxuan
This is another duplicate from a few weeks ago. I believe many of the
commentators talked about how it was nice to see them still in use in parts of
Europe and Australia.

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dfcowell
I see you also listen to No Such Thing as a Fish.

Anyone who enjoys finding out about this kind of obscure technology, or
interesting facts of any kind should give it a listen.

It’s up there with 99 Percent Invisible (but far less focused and deep
exploration) in terms of interesting, otherwise unlikely-to-discover-
organically facts.

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jonny_eh
This was just mentioned in a popular podcast released today called No Such
Thing as a Fish. Coincidence?

[https://overcast.fm/+LJPAHOVYI/19:18](https://overcast.fm/+LJPAHOVYI/19:18)

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Steltek
Any chance these will be worth it when NYC is forced to close the Hudson River
tunnels?

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devb
Very doubtful. The NYNJ system is not very high capacity, doesn't have an easy
connection to passenger lines in New Jersey, the connecting lines aren't
electrified, and would leave passengers in the far south end of Brooklyn.

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kangnkodos
It's time to expand this chart to include trains.
[https://xkcd.com/2043/](https://xkcd.com/2043/)

~~~
kangnkodos
Maybe add these entries? Train holds car: auto train -> cartrain. Train holds
house: sleeper car -> housetrain. Train holds boat: boat carriage ->
boattrain. Car holds train: heavy train trailer -> traincar. House holds
train: engine shed -> trainhouse. Boat holds train: train ferry -> trainboat.
Train holds train: transporter wagon -> traintrain.

~~~
hjek
_traincar_ is already taken.

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jontro
It'll be interesting to see if the Cuba - US train ferries will be resumed
when the "Ongoing embargo" against Cuba is lifted.

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ggm
The Germany/Denmark one goes past a huge dong/ørsted energy windfarm. Two
experiences for the price of one!

