British Railways - Sealink

 

Page 3: Holyhead Sevices

 

 

This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the Holyhead services of British Railways, which was formed in 1948 with the ships from former LMS, LNER, SR and GWR fleets. British Railways was rebranded British Rail in 1965, and new corporate colours and logo were introduced. In 1968, an Act of Parliament separated the shipping interests of British Rail into a new division, for which the marketing name Sealink was adopted in 1970. In 1979, the ownership of of vessels was transferred to Sealink UK Ltd, in preparation for the privatisation of the railway fleet. In 1984, Sealink was acquired by Sea Containers Ltd, becoming Sealink British Ferries. After a lengthy battle, Stena Line completed a hostile takeover of Sealink in 1990, the company then being known as Sealink Stena Line until later absorption into the Stena Fleet.

 

An alphabetical list of ships shown on this page is shown below. The Table beneath gives links to complete history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table is a Fleet List in chronological order.

 

This page is still under construction

 

 

Ships on This Page:-

Cambria (5) - BR/Sealink: 1949-1976

Hibernia (4) - BR/Sealink: 1949-1976

Caledonian Princess - BR/Sealink: 1961-1982

Holyhead Ferry 1 - BR/Sealink: 1965-1976

Dover - Sealink: 1978-1978 - later Earl Siward

Earl Siward - BR/Sealink: 1965-1981 - ex-Dover

St Columba - Sealink: 1977-1984

St David - Sealink: 1980-1984

 

British Railways Pages:-

British Railway Steamers - BR/Sealink Header Page

London & North Western Railway - Holyhead Services

London Midland & Scottish Railway - Holyhead Services

Midland Railway - Heysham-Belfast & Heysham-Douglas Services

Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Fleetwood-Belfast services

London Midland & Scottish Railway - Heysham-Belfast services

 

Associated Pages:-

Hellenic Maritime Lines (HML)

Ferry Postcards

Cruise Ship Postcards

Ocean Liner Postcards

Simplon Postcards - Recent Updates

Simplon Postcards - Home Page

 

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Table of Ship Histories

Name	Other names	Built
Duke of Argyll	Neptunia, Corinthia	1956

 

 

 

 

 

British Railways - Sealink

 

Page 3: Holyhead Sevices

 

 

 

Cambria

(BR/Sealink: 1949-76)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hibernia

(BR/Sealink: 1949-76)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holyhead Ferry 1 - Earl Leofric

(BR/Sealink: 1965-1981)

 

Holyhead Ferry 1 was built by Hawthorn Leslie Shipbuilders Ltd, Newcastle, entering service between Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire in July 1965. She remained on this route until 1973, with winter releif work between Stranraer-Larne. She acted as releif on the Weymouth-Channel Islands routes. In 1976, Holyhead Ferry 1 was rebuilt at Swan Hunter Shiprepairers Tyne Ltd, and renamed Earl Leofric, returning to service between Dover and Boulogne. After being laid up in Newhaven from December 1980, she was sold for scrap in May 1981.

 

 

Sealink postcard of Earl Leofric.

Publisher: J.Arthur Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dover - Earl Siward

(BR/Sealink: 1965-1981)

 

Dover was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd, Newcastle, entering service between Dover and Calais in September 1965. She also served between Newhaven-Dieppe and Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire. In 1978 Dover was rebuilt at Aalborg Verft, Aalborg, Denmark, and renamed Earl Siward, returning to service on the Irish Sea, and later on Dover-Calais, Folkestone-Boulone and to the Channel Islands from Weymouth. In 1981 she was withdrawn and laid up in Newhaven. In November 1981 Earl Siward was sold to Sol Ferries of Cyprus as the Sol Express on a service linking Brindisi, Igoumenitsa and Patras. In 1983 she was laid up in Limassol with turbine problems. In 1986 she returned to the UK for stationery use as a club in Newcastle, named Tuxedo Express.

 

 

British Rail postcard of Dover.

Publisher: J.Arthur Dixon

 

 

 

Sealink postcard of Dover.

Publisher: J.Arthur Dixon

 

 

 

Sealink postcard of Earl Siward.

Publisher: J.Arthur Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Columba

(Sealink: 1977-1984)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

St David

(Sealink: 1980-1984)

 

St David was built by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast, in 1981, entering service between Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire. She backed up the St Columba in busy periods, and was available for releif work at other times. In 1983 she spent 3 months on Dover-Calais, and also visited Stranraer-Larne. In 1984 Sealink ownership passed to Sea Containers, with St David running for Sealink British Ferries under the same name. In 1985, St David ran on Dover-Oostende services - Oostende services finished in December 1985. From 1986, she spent most of her time on Stranraer-Larne services, and passed to Sealink Stena Line in 1990. St David was renamed Stena Caledonia the following year. From 1995, the Irish terminal moved to Belfast, reverting to Larne in 2005.

 

 

Sealink postcard of St David.

Publisher: J.Arthur Dixon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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