The ''Admiraal de Ruijter'' was an international train service linking Amsterdam with London. The train was named after the Dutch Admiral

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as one of the most skilled naval commanders in ...

, a remarkable choice because it was De Ruyter who attacked Britain and destroyed or seized many British navy ships during the

Raid on the Medway The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At th ...

several centuries earlier.

History

The ''Admiraal de Ruijter'' was one of the day services in the 1987

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

network. It was operated as a

boat train 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. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat train ...

, the first part Amsterdam –

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland (, ) is a coastal village in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was in use before the word ''wikt:kaap#Dutch, kaap'' – "cape". The English translation using Hook is a false cognate of t ...

by train, the second Hook of Holland – Harwich by boat and the last part, Harwich – London, by train. The train's classification as a day train was related to the shipping during the day seen from the Dutch side, the westbound "night train" EC ''Benjamin Britten'', connecting with the night boat ran at day time as well. In Britain the eastbound ''Admiraal de Ruijter'' was connected with the night boat and the eastbound ''Benjamin Britten'' with the day boat. Each of these trains lost its EuroCity label after one year of service because it did not meet the EuroCity criteria for service quality; sometimes other rolling stock was used and the on-board catering was minimal from the start. However, both trains also remained in the timetable, as

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

services.

Formation (consist)

The

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (, , NS ) is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight operato ...

used three coupled '' Koplopers'' between Amsterdam and Hook of Holland. Spoorwegen 88 p. 37 Ferries of Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (the ) or Sealink (the MS ''St Nicholas'') provided the shipping.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

used its class 86 and Mark 2 coaching stock on the Harwich – London part.

References

Works cited

* {{EuroCity trains International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of the Netherlands Named passenger trains of British Rail EuroCity Railway services introduced in 1987