Ferry passengers
Railways compliment ferries
The railway network was beginning to grow at the same time as
steam packet services were established. They complemented each
other, and trains and steamer services were soon coordinated to
allow very rapid through journeys, for instance, from London via
Dover and Calais to Paris, or from London via Holyhead to Dublin.
Such journeys that would probably have taken a week by stagecoach
and sailing ship could soon be done within a day. The coming of
steam was a revolution in travel for the passenger. 
 Boat train at Southampton Docks |
At first, the passengers got off their trains and walked onto
the ferry. In the twentieth century, the idea was born of driving
the train onto the ferry, and off at the other side, so that the
passengers did not have to be disturbed. The train ferry was
particularly convenient for night crossings, as the passengers
could sleep throughout the journey. Train ferries also came to be
heavily used where a wide stretch of water got in the way of a main
rail route, as did the Great Belt in Denmark. Operations here
became very slick, with the train only pausing momentarily before
driving onto the waiting ferry. Before the passengers could get off
the train and go on deck, the ferry had left its dock and started
the crossing.
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