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The ' () was a luxury
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 ...
of the Southern Railway and later
British Railways 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 Commis ...
. It linked
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
with
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
, where passengers took the ferry to
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
to join the ' of the
Chemin de Fer du Nord The Chemins de fer du Nord''French locomotive built in 1846''
and later
SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...
which took them on to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.


History

The ''Flèche d'Or'' was introduced in 1926 as an all-first-class Pullman service between
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and
Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...
. On 15 May 1929, the Southern Railway introduced the equivalent between London Victoria and Dover while simultaneously launching a new first class only ship, the , for the ferry crossing. The train usually consisted of 10 British Pullman cars, hauled by one of the Southern Railway's
Lord Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...
class locomotives, and took 98 minutes to travel between London and Dover. Because of the impact of air travel and 'market forces' on the underlying economy of the service, ordinary first- and third-class carriages were added in 1931. Similarly the first-class-only ferry, ''Canterbury'', was modified to allow other classes of passenger. The train service ceased at the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
in September 1939. It resumed after the war on 15 April 1946, initially running with the pre-war Pullmans and the Trianon Bar car, a converted twelve-wheeled Pullman. The Southern railway flagship, the replaced the ''Canterbury'' from 10 October 1946. As of 1949, the all-Pullman train was scheduled to depart from London Victoria at 10:30, with the connecting train from Calais reaching Paris (
Gare du Nord The Gare du Nord (; ), officially Paris Nord, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. The station is served by trains that run between the capital and northern France via the Paris–Lille railway, as well ...
) at 17:30, and from Paris at 12:15, with the connecting train from Dover arriving in London at 19:30."Table 21: Golden Arrow (Flèche d'Or)". '' Cook's Continental Timetable'' (3 April – 14 May 1949 edition), p. 94. London: Thomas Cook Publishing. This worked out to a scheduled journey time of 6 hours eastbound and 6 hours, 15 minutes, westbound after accounting for the one-hour difference between
Greenwich Mean Time Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the local mean time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being ...
and
Central European Time Central European Time (CET) is a standard time of Central, and parts of Western Europe, which is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The UTC offset, time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00. It is used in most parts of Eur ...
. In 1951, a new set of Pullmans was built, exhibited as part of British Railways' celebration of the
Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...
. In 1961, with the Kent Coast electrification scheme, the train became electric-hauled. That allowed an acceleration to 80 minutes for the down service and 82 minutes for the up service.Southern Region Passenger timetable 5 May 1969 to 3 May 1970. A decline in demand for rail travel between London and Paris saw the last ''Golden Arrow'' run on 30 September 1972 and, in its later years, only the first class section was advertised as a Pullman service.


Preservation

The preserved
Bluebell Railway The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line in West Sussex in England. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between and , with intermediate stations at and . It is the first preserv ...
in
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
runs a "Golden Arrow" train with Pullman cars "Car 64 (Christine)", "Fingall", "FO 1st class Sappho and an ex- LMS BGZ. The main-line service was revived for a one-off event on 6 May 1994 when it formed part of the celebrations for the inauguration of the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
. It was hauled by the steam locomotive ''Britannia''. The Golden Arrow insignia, of 'Golden Arrow' titles on a green disc with a golden arrow element passing through the two 'O' letters is still a registered trademark and is still today owned by the
Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...
, officially registered to the
Secretary of State for Transport The secretary of state for transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Departm ...
.


Literary reference

In Graham Greene's "Travels With My Aunt", the character Zachary Wordsworth, suspected by the London Police of drug-trafficking, uses the Golden Arrow to escape to Paris (Ch.4). The book, published in 1969, notes that twenty pounds, given to Wordsworth by the narrator's aunt, were enough to cover the fare to Paris


See also

*
Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...
– train service via the Channel Tunnel (since 1994) *
Night Ferry The ''Night Ferry'' was an international boat train from London Victoria railway station, London Victoria to Gare du Nord, Paris Gare du Nord that crossed the English Channel on a train ferry. It ran from 1936 until 1939 when it ceased due to ...
– sleeper train between London and Paris/Brussels (1936–1980) *
Silver Arrow (rail-air service) The ' () was an intermodal passenger transport service linking London Victoria station, Victoria station in London with Gare du Nord in Paris, via Gatwick Airport and Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport, Le Touquet Airport, northern France. ...
intermodal passenger transport Intermodal passenger transport, also called mixed-mode commuting, involves using two or more mode of transport, modes of transportation in a journey. Mixed-mode commuting is often used to combine the strengths (and offset the weaknesses) of va ...
service between London and Paris (1956–c 1994)


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *


External links


SEMG page


* https://web.archive.org/web/20050424210501/http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/transport/golden_arrow.htm

* {{citation , url=http://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/golden-arrow.html, chapter = The Golden Arrow, title= Railway Wonders of the World , date=22 March 1935, pages= 232–239, editor-first=Clarence , editor-last=Winchester , contemporary account of the train Named passenger trains of the Southern Railway Named passenger trains of British Rail 1929 establishments in England 1972 disestablishments in England Railway services introduced in 1929 Pullman Car Company (UK) Railway services discontinued in 1972 International named passenger trains