Keep your Queen Marys and your Mauretanias, I'll take the Woolwich Ferry any time. The North Woolwich Railway: • The North Woolwich Rai... Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jago... Patreon: / jagohazzard
I wish they would have a decent sizer ferry on the Gravesend to Tilbury crossing, the tiny boat which does at the moment, slightest wave an its like a jelly
Back in the mid 70's as kids we had our red rover cards and travelled far and wide on the buses and also had trips on the ferry back and forth. Big feeling of independence on the water and used to pretend we were at sea 😂. Well we were kids and has just left primary school and felt grown up, with plenty of imagination
In 1991 as a somewhat lost and bewildered Northern teenager heading for Croydon in a Datsun Sunny I arrived at the end of the North Circular expecting to see a bridge. I was very suprised to cross the Thames by ferry, but rather enjoyed it as I recall.
In the 50's we used to use the ferry 5 or 6 times a year when we went to Woolwich to visit family. The treat was to observe the engines driving the paddle wheels. I can still remember the smell of hot oil wafting up through the open viewing louvres.
I remember using the “old” ferry late 1950’s - maybe early 1960. The approaches to the ferry looked nothing like now and were all timber. Boy, did they groan, move and creak when you drove your car over them. I was a young boy and thought that collapse was imminent. Could well have been apparently.
i used to use it in the 60’s simply because i could, even though i had to go out of my way.it was sort of a link with the past of the Thames as a thoroughfare
@@johnhowitt2653 later on, when the new ferry terminals had been built (same as today?), I used the foot tunnel to get across. Couldn’t stand waiting for the ferry; couldn’t stand waiting for much in my youth; now, waiting is a pleasant interlude. Life is like a toilet roll; the nearer you get to the end; the faster it goes around. Not my invention, but very true.
one of the upgrades that came with the Dame Vera Lynn and Ben Woollacott is that they have an automatic docking system, which means that the specific circumstances of Ben's death won't be repeated.
Worth noting the new ferries did not come into operation in 2017. They were due to start in 2019 but a catalogue of issues meant they didn’t start running properly until months later. And then the pandemic hit.
I'm so old that I remember during THE war that the bridges over the docks (Albert and George) were never open to road traffic in case they got bombed and blocked the entrance to shipping. I think the journey on the 101 bus was via Slivertown etc . pretty cheap for a penny!
Just visited central London forvthe first time since discovering your videos and safe to say my wife was bombarded with random facts and knowledge. Keep up the excellent work.
Serco were also briefly responsible for running the ancillary screening for security clearances. Anyone who has dealt with them probably can guess how that went.
I recall that during the 80s one of the ferries broke down and drifted some considerable distance down stream before it could be rescued; which must have made for a much more interesting journey for those unfortunate enough to be on board.
As a child in the 1960s I went on a trip to Margate on one of the last paddle steamers. (We boarded at Southend, not Woolwich.) I remember it because passengers were allowed down to the engine room to see the machinery working, which was quite a treat. At that date the engines were probably diesel powered, not steam, but I don't remember. It seems odd that paddle steamers were still working as late as the 1960s, and not just as 'heritage' attractions.
I remember as a kid getting The Royal Sovereign and Daffodil from Tower Pier down to Southend and Margate. Were these the ships that called in at Woolwich?
I always found it amusing that one can travel around the north and south circular at a moderate pace, in fact some of it is three or four lane motorway, then you get to the ferry and wait up to an hour to cross 😂
Excellent stuff! I shan’t recycle my tale of using this ferry ⛴ to get to watch Charlton over the years 😜 Nice to see the service in good health so to speak. There have been various murmurs and rumours about its impending doom but the new ferries seem to have put that to bed for now at least! 😀 Sad to think I shall never ride on Ernest Bevan again but I guess that is just progress and I’d rather the service survived 🤔 Cheers 🍻 🍀👍
Interesting. I'm old enough to recall travelling on the steam paddle ferries. The highlight of the journey(s) was always watching the engines at work, clearly remember the humps in the floor in the gangway covering the drive shafts for the paddle wheels. Several images of the steam ferries survive, but none I have yet found of the engines.
Worth noting that the Metropolitan Board of Works wasn't supposed to have ended on 21 March 1889. It was supposed to have gone on to the end of the month (and the local government year). However, in its last days it got above itself. It gave many employees pay rises which would have to be paid by the London County Council. It permitted buildings to encroach on streets against local opinion. Then it proposed to award a contract to build the Blackwall Tunnel to a firm that wasn't the lowest bidder. There was such an outcry that the Government stepped in and brought forward its abolition to stop it. Hence the Woolwich Ferry opened as the first achievement of the LCC not the last of the MBW. There's an interesting letter in the last minutes of the MBW (pages 684-5) detailing the arrangements for the opening ceremony of the Woolwich Ferry. They can be found on Google Books.
With regards to the point on pay rises, a similar thing happened in Hong Kong just before the handover to China. Lots of central Government employees (from street sweepers to, ironically, the ferry staff) whose salary was partly funded by the UK govt. got large pay rises because the Chinese govt. would have to carry them on.
Considering the distance the ferry has to travel and that it is then moored up to allow vehicles and passengers on and off for several minutes, it would seem ripe for full battery electrification. After all the Scandinavians have a fully electric ferry plying far longer routes around the fjords.
Batteries would not have the capacity to keep going, but I can see a theoretical potential idea in them getting recharged each time they are attached to the pier while they load and unload. However, most batteries have a limited number of cycles, and for a ferry that is in constant use, those cycles would be used up very quickly. The distance is short enough that, at face value, it could run on an electrical umbilical cord. However, once you've got two ferries then they have to be arranged so that they wouldn't get tangled up and wound round each other. Or caught up by other ships. I don't know if there are actually any ferries run on electrical umbilical cords.
@@herseem Some types of battery will last a very long time if they are just used for short periods with regular top-ups; periodic optimised refresh cycles could improve their lifetime further. Sure they would need to be replaced eventually just like a car battery, but I suspect they could do tens of thousands of journeys between replacements. Bear in mind that diesel engines also need more maintenance than pure electric motors, as well as the fuel cost which is rising all the time. Overall the costs of a battery powered ferry could easily be lower - especially if some of the electricity can be generated from wind turbines on the banks and on the ferries, making use of the fact that it's usually pretty windy around there!
@@jammin023 Tens of thousands of cycles 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 like a lot but, considering the large number of daily crossings, the lifetime of the batteries would only be a few years at most. I'm no expert on such matters but a vessel this heavy is going to need some serious batteries, which will add hugely to the weight of the ferry, which will then require even bigger batteries. It doesn't seem to be a great idea really.😁
Why not use people doing community service as galley slaves to power the ferries? I can just imagine a big, burley bloke standing over a big drum banging out the strokes like in the film Ben Hurr... Ramming Speed! 😉
@@trevordance5181 Way too sensible!! Social workers would be screaming "Human rights" from the top of lamp posts. The first time someone got a blister, there would need to be a risk assessment carried out and the "equal opportunities" crowd would insist that the 𝑏𝑖𝑔, 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑘𝑒 was actually a disabled woman, from an ethnic minority. The drum would be banned as racial stereotyping and noise pollution and every ferry in the land would be out on strike, claiming unfair competition. By the time the "crew" had taken all their "personal needs breaks" and undergone counselling for their traumatic working conditions, there would be queues of traffic, stretching from the ferries back to Dover. Apart from these teething troubles, I see no reason why it wouldn't work. 🥁 Yo Ho Heave Ho🥁 😁 Bob Hoskins would have been a good man for the job.😂
Talking recently to someone who drives one of these or may have now retired, they are looking at total leccy propulsion but they wouldn't be able to hold them against the ramps with the props turning which is the current practice because batteries would be charging.
Good news indeed. Less risk of being electrocuted if the ferry should flood or sink for any reason. (the US Navy abandoned turbo-electric drive on their warships for good reason)
Thanks for the recent videos about the North Woolwich, that being a place we often visited during the school holidays just to ride on the free ferry. What a grand day out getting a "Red Bus Rover" and travelling all the way from Walthamstow on the number 69 bus.... no sniggering at the back.... with our sandwiches and a bottle of pop. You try telling the young of today that that was a grand day out...would they believe you....would they heck as like!
A grand day out to the yoof of today appears to be going to one of the Westfields (or equivalent shopping centres outside London) and hanging around, so despite the sheer lack of cool inherent in catching a bus for a ride on a ferry, I'd definitely prefer it to hanging around a mall complaining that there was nuffin to f***in do anywhere. Mind you, my early teens were spent using a National Wanderbus or Explorer ticket to head out of the West Midlands and ride around the Midlands on Midland Red buses, all on my tod, which is something the kids of today probably wouldn't be allowed to do "because it's too dangerous" so hanging around shopping centres is pretty much all that's open to them. I feel sorry for the kids of today.
My memories are sketchy and they must have happened before I joined the Army is January 1964 at the age of 15 and a half. I can remember being taken to travel the ferry by my Aunt who lived in Plumstead. I couldn't wait to board and spent the entire crossing below deck just mesmerised by the engine movements and the sound of sheer power, and the smell !!..........sheer heaven.
The thing I find surprising is that it is still time and cost effective for people to line up and wait for the ferry, especially for commercial lorries ⛴ 🚛
Yesterday I used the ferry (partly as a slightly circuitous route, though the time difference wasn't that much) and while the queues weren't insane, the ferry load that arrived, that I was a part of, and that was waiting to replace the load I was a part of were all filled up. I'd guess that lorries going north but can't fit in the northbound Blackwall tunnel might make up some of the load, as well as those starting/finishing their journey close to one of the piers, and more recently, the extended ULEZ would theoretically be a large part of the ferry demand!
When I hear on the radio traffic news, as often is the case, that there is only a reduced one boat service operating the Woolwich Ferry, I always end up singing to myself... "One Woolwich Ferry, There's only one Woolwich Ferry, One Woolwich Ferrrr-eeee, There's only one Woolwich Ferry", to the tune of 'Guantanamera' by The Sandpipers.
5ft passengers vs 150ft passengers? Well, at least the 5ft ones have room to stand up! Another fantastic video - thanks Jago! You are the entertainment to my lazy Sunday afternoon.
I remember travelling to x fro on the paddle ferries as a child. On warm days the crew would leave the doors to the engine room open. One could then marvel at the huge engine operating, (very little health x safety then)! The other memory is of a very strong stink from the river. Ah! the good old days!
On 21st March 1941 my grandfather was ship's cook on the SS Halo which was delivering coal to London. As it approached the N. Woolwich pier it hit a mine and sank, the impact from the explosion rendering my grandfather profoundly deaf and ending his career as a seaman. As the wreck was blocking the approach to the pier it had to be removed; it was repaired and put back into service. Shortly before the end of the war, the Halo was sailing off the coast of Holland when it was torpedoed, this time being lost for good.
I have a memory of seeing the paddle versions and looking at the engines you could see then, but I was not cycling round there until the later 1960's, so I was probably with my father - the family had a small road haulage company based in Plaistow and he would drive one of the lorries when they were short handed.
Cue loud foghorn! I used to travel back and forth on the woolwich ferry back in the 60's when I used to live just up the road from woolwich. My mum used to take me to some place called eastham but I can't remember what it even looks like as I was only a little sprog at the time. All I remember is the crossings. And I also vaguely remember the old wooden beams on the woolwich landing before it was rebuilt and modernised.
I live in Beckton and one my suppliers is in Woolwich. The journey by ferry is very enjoyable but I take it approximately 3% of the time, the rest is by the Blackwall tunnel, much more convenient. Woolwich ferry has a reduced service much of the time if it's not closed for technical issues or numerous strikes. I can count on one hand when I took the new ferries since 2017...
@8:06 *Public Service Announcement* No boroughs were dissected in the making of this video, the ferry or the towns of Woolwich. North Woolwich is its own town in the London Borough of Newham. The River Thames separates this borough from the Royal Borough of Greenwich in the south. Woolwich is the administrative HQ of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. No one who grew up in Woolwich ever ventures deep into North Woolwich.
Have used the ferry intermittently for decades. After a long day at Canary Wharf, its nice to bob along the river and take in the views/get some space.
I dont know what it is about ferry rides but I love taking them. Here in Seattle Washington USA we have several ferries leaving from downtown to various destinations. We have one that is walk on passenger & bicycle only to British Columbia Canada. We have one to Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island, & Bremerton, WA. Then a few miles north one to Windby Island.
Fantastic in the 60‘S I used to go across with my gran to get jellied eels as she was from silver town and moved to Welling in the 30’s, later my father in law was a lighterman on the ferry that’s how he met my ex.wife’s mother small world good to see its still going next time I manage to get back to the UK I will give it a try thank you
I'm 75 now but when I was young I used to get the bus to Woolwich just to go backwards and forwards on the ferry and especially to go to the observation area and watch the engine with its huge con-rods going up an down and all highly polished brass. Beautiful,,, and the smell,,,, to die for
Another gem, Jago. As kids, my mate and I would go out for the day and come home via the ferry. After 60 yrs we both remember the huge 'Granada' neon sign shining out, with a fuzzy red reflection in the river.
You describe the foot passenger part of the new Woolwich ferries as “pretty spacious”, but it is basically a glorified footpath with a shelter. The old boats had basically the whole lower deck for foot passengers, which meant in the latter years and enormous empty maze to walk round during the crossing and fun to find the exit in the opposite corner of the vessel!
I used to travel on the previous ferries to and from work, and was always appreciative of the cocktail lounge and duty free shop. Sadly I haven't used the new ferries and fear that they will not have the same levels of luxury.
Just a suggestion, why not something on the Thames Watermen Those ferries bring back memories. Back at the end of the 80s early 90s I lived in North Essex whilst my family lived in Cornwall. Loathing the M25 round north London and tunnel tolls (OK, I'm a cheapskate) my preferred route was A12, N Circ to Woolwich and, eventually, the M3 to the A303
I haven't been on the new boats yet, but did go on the older ones, both as a car passenger (well, you see, we'd been over the river - on a bridge - and under it - in a tunnel - that day, so we had to cross on it as well, didn't we?) and, a bit later, on foot. Wonderful passenger accommodation below-decks, very old-fashioned.
When I was at Thames Poly - now Greenwich University - during the 1980s, we were not allowed to have rag week. Apparently this was because a couple of years previously, on two consecutive years, students had stolen a Woolwich ferry overnight and driven it down the river, on the second occasion crashing it into something. So the poly was banned from having rag week for ten years. I was told.
When I lived in Charlton as a student we used to get the Woolwich Ferry for lads East End drinking Saturdays, late 60s a lot of East London pubs had live music.
Up until the 1950s the _Pool of London,_ and the docks and moorings stretching out from it up the Thames estuary, still rendered our city the then busiest port in the world - more so than even the likes of Rotterdam or Shanghai. While cannonballs excavated during construction on the vast original Woolwich Arsenal site, are prominently displayed at the entrance to the immense, three prison, HMP Belmarsh complex (don’t ask me how I know), which took up much of its original territory - *bombsite* is the most chilling, sobering webpage on the damage the Blitz wrought, but how easily we forget just how much of a military rather than just civilian target the geography today termed London was; think of all those BrEN guns ENfield was churning out alone. As for the appropriate demonym for the historic Woolwichanese: _”Woolies”?_
Having been out of the UK since 1995 I have never seen those new ferries .. the old black white and yellow ones are the last I saw. Nice to be "updated"
Ah, the Greater London Council (GLC): I remember The Comic Strips Presents making a satirical film about the end of the GLC that portrayed Ken Livingstone as a sort-of Rambo-like character. And it had a lot of guns in the story too...
I remember seeing an old map of Kent when it included a lot of what is now Greater London. North Woolwich was drawn with a border round and the words"Part of Kent".
The Docklands is such a vibrant area in East London with lots of history, a ferry service, Emirates Air-Line cable car, the Docklands Light Railway and of course the Blackwall Tunnel. Connecting East London and Southeast London within few minutes from each other which way you want to travel. Maybe a ferry service could be ideal in West London but it doesn’t need it as it’s got District Line, London Overground, National Rail and roads going over the River Thames.
Serco : Nuclear weapons ... prisons ... immigration detention centers ... Perhaps just abbreviating their business concerns to general all purpose evil might be more concise ?
I hope you don’t mind me asking how recently this was filmed? I lived in Woolwich for a number of years but moved away in April, and I’m surprised by how much progress they’ve made on the building just upriver from the southern pier. That whole area was a muddy pit for as long as I was there, they had planned to build on it right when the financial crisis hit and the plot sat unused for more than a decade. I’d not actually seen a stone laid by the time I left. Even though it’s just another block of flats it’s nice to see they’re finally doing it.
hi, i remember using the ferry in the 80s you could go down and look at the engines, i think they were Mirlees diesel power units. great memories.pity woolwich stn was closed, but clowns now run london and all the good old BR lines are now gone
Ha ha, I don’t know, I’ve never ever seen said ferry, but the mental picture that you created in my mind is wonderful so I just wanted to let you know that, and to say thank you 🙂🐿❤️
@@robertstorey7476 - it’s just a fantastic mental picture and such skilled boatmenship/ferrypersonship.....ANYWAY ha ha I’m really loving it.🙂🐿 Shipmanship? Shippersonship? I’m kinda liking shipmanship if I’m honest 🤪 Yes, I’m a little bit mad (but in a good way).
I wish there was a list of historic ferry crossings. There are some fantastic assets online detailing historic railways, but nothing for old ferries that have been replaced by bridges or tunnels. Just a bit further down the river, there used to be a Tilbury-Gravesend car ferry before the Dartford Tunnel was constructed.
20-25 years ago when I was a child, my family took a trip on the 'SeaCat' (catamaran) to Boulogne from Folkestone harbour, since Folkestone's closer to home than Dover. Horrible experience, the SeaCat. Le tunnel was finished soon afterwards and with that, the catamaran was finished too.
the ramps to the ferry before they up-dated them were aimed towards Powis street and were what would nowadays be classed as being 6'6"wide, many a car driver hesitated before they drove on.
Hoped you might have some footage of the magnificent paddle steamers I remember when we used to visit relatives in south London in the 50s. The wonderful engines were totally on view. The combined aromas of steam, hot oil and churned up riverbed once smelt never forgotten! By contrast I hated the then single bore Blackwall Tunnel as I was mildly claustrophobic and we were once stuck in there for nearly an hour when a double-decker bus and a lorry got wedged on a corner.
In the 1980s I was in the Army and was detailed to deliver a nuclear war head to Gray's for onward delivery. My colleagues and I were told quite explicitly "Absolutely no f*****g tunnels whilst loaded" As a Londoner I got to drive. We got some strange looks from the crew and other passengers onboard the ferry. They probably thought we were going to the Woolwich Garrison
Thank you very much for a very interesting video. The last night of the three 1963 vessels was very memorable. Interestingly a Routemaster bus was on the last north crossing. It was hosting a "Hen Party" I recall the driver asked why there were so many people on the car deck. I was taken down into the engine room of the 'James Newman' which was a very interesting experience.
Well,Jago,a New World connection,in New York,there is the Staten Island ferry,with a fair history,but not as long as Woolwich! It is now free Ferry,but had railroad connections,both to the New York Central,and the Baltimore & Ohio,but that's for another day! The harbor has many tales,too,but like Woolwich,taken for granted,and I forgot,one last piece of information,the Southern Railway,had a Class of 2-6-0's
A few years back (15-20?) I was on one of the ferries that had been hired for a party for special needs children. We travelled up the Thames and through Tower Bridge which opened specially for us. The boat then proceeded to kill time waiting for the bridge to open again to let us back downstream, by spinning about its centre point, sometimes quite fast, to the amusement of onlookers and the discomfort of passengers 🤢. If I ever get on it now I immediately feel queasy!
![POLYCAT - ข้อความรูปยิ้ม [Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lBhIgPGCgbI/mqdefault.jpg)
I used to teach Ben Woollacott, nice guy lost far too soon.
> 7:09 < Woollacott - not to be confused with - Woolwich
I took my grand daughter on it. She enjoyed it so much, we went back and forth for well over an hour. If only I could have found the Duty Free.
"the ferry is not going anywhere, but back and forth"- your word play always puts a smile on my face
> 7:44
I wish they would have a decent sizer ferry on the Gravesend to Tilbury crossing, the tiny boat which does at the moment, slightest wave an its like a jelly
19 is no age.
God bless the young man.
"...comes to £180,000, or a couple of nights out in the WestEnd..." Really? You're getting discounts; how?!
easy........he got around by using TFL!
Back in the mid 70's as kids we had our red rover cards and travelled far and wide on the buses and also had trips on the ferry back and forth. Big feeling of independence on the water and used to pretend we were at sea 😂.
Well we were kids and has just left primary school and felt grown up, with plenty of imagination
In 1991 as a somewhat lost and bewildered Northern teenager heading for Croydon in a Datsun Sunny I arrived at the end of the North Circular expecting to see a bridge. I was very suprised to cross the Thames by ferry, but rather enjoyed it as I recall.
That was ferry shocking, wasn’t it?
In the 50's we used to use the ferry 5 or 6 times a year when we went to Woolwich to visit family. The treat was to observe the engines driving the paddle wheels. I can still remember the smell of hot oil wafting up through the open viewing louvres.
I remember using the “old” ferry late 1950’s - maybe early 1960. The approaches to the ferry looked nothing like now and were all timber. Boy, did they groan, move and creak when you drove your car over them. I was a young boy and thought that collapse was imminent. Could well have been apparently.
i used to use it in the 60’s simply because i could, even though i had to go out of my way.it was sort of a link with the past of the Thames as a thoroughfare
@@johnhowitt2653 later on, when the new ferry terminals had been built (same as today?), I used the foot tunnel to get across. Couldn’t stand waiting for the ferry; couldn’t stand waiting for much in my youth; now, waiting is a pleasant interlude.
Life is like a toilet roll; the nearer you get to the end; the faster it goes around. Not my invention, but very true.
That's funny.
one of the upgrades that came with the Dame Vera Lynn and Ben Woollacott is that they have an automatic docking system, which means that the specific circumstances of Ben's death won't be repeated.
Worth noting the new ferries did not come into operation in 2017. They were due to start in 2019 but a catalogue of issues meant they didn’t start running properly until months later. And then the pandemic hit.
1:04 - This is why I’ve never been on it: I’m terrified of mermaid attacks. 🧜♀️
Mermaids seemed to be quite the hinderance back in the day
@@barneypaws4883 Yes, especially when they were harassing you to buy fancy coffee.
I'm so old that I remember during THE war that the bridges over the docks (Albert and George) were never open to road traffic in case they got bombed and blocked the entrance to shipping. I think the journey on the 101 bus was via Slivertown etc . pretty cheap for a penny!
Just visited central London forvthe first time since discovering your videos and safe to say my wife was bombarded with random facts and knowledge.
Keep up the excellent work.
Serco were also briefly responsible for running the ancillary screening for security clearances. Anyone who has dealt with them probably can guess how that went.
I recall that during the 80s one of the ferries broke down and drifted some considerable distance down stream before it could be rescued; which must have made for a much more interesting journey for those unfortunate enough to be on board.
The TH-cam subtitles for the word Woolwich came up with so many variations in this video that it's actually an Easter egg 😏
As a child in the 1960s I went on a trip to Margate on one of the last paddle steamers. (We boarded at Southend, not Woolwich.) I remember it because passengers were allowed down to the engine room to see the machinery working, which was quite a treat. At that date the engines were probably diesel powered, not steam, but I don't remember. It seems odd that paddle steamers were still working as late as the 1960s, and not just as 'heritage' attractions.
I remember as a kid getting The Royal Sovereign and Daffodil from Tower Pier down to Southend and Margate. Were these the ships that called in at Woolwich?
I always found it amusing that one can travel around the north and south circular at a moderate pace, in fact some of it is three or four lane motorway, then you get to the ferry and wait up to an hour to cross 😂
Excellent stuff! I shan’t recycle my tale of using this ferry ⛴ to get to watch Charlton over the years 😜 Nice to see the service in good health so to speak. There have been various murmurs and rumours about its impending doom but the new ferries seem to have put that to bed for now at least! 😀
Sad to think I shall never ride on Ernest Bevan again but I guess that is just progress and I’d rather the service survived 🤔
Cheers 🍻 🍀👍
The puns and dry humour just keep improving, and hit me when I least expect them. "the ferry is going nowhere, except back and forth".
I've used the Woolwich ferry on occasion,a nice view of the Thames barrier in the distance ,long may the ferry continue.
Interesting. I'm old enough to recall travelling on the steam paddle ferries. The highlight of the journey(s) was always watching the engines at work, clearly remember the humps in the floor in the gangway covering the drive shafts for the paddle wheels. Several images of the steam ferries survive, but none I have yet found of the engines.
Until 1965 North Woolwich was an enclave of Kent, the bloodless coup made it part of the LB Newham, itself rescued from Essex.
Worth noting that the Metropolitan Board of Works wasn't supposed to have ended on 21 March 1889. It was supposed to have gone on to the end of the month (and the local government year). However, in its last days it got above itself. It gave many employees pay rises which would have to be paid by the London County Council. It permitted buildings to encroach on streets against local opinion. Then it proposed to award a contract to build the Blackwall Tunnel to a firm that wasn't the lowest bidder. There was such an outcry that the Government stepped in and brought forward its abolition to stop it. Hence the Woolwich Ferry opened as the first achievement of the LCC not the last of the MBW. There's an interesting letter in the last minutes of the MBW (pages 684-5) detailing the arrangements for the opening ceremony of the Woolwich Ferry. They can be found on Google Books.
With regards to the point on pay rises, a similar thing happened in Hong Kong just before the handover to China. Lots of central Government employees (from street sweepers to, ironically, the ferry staff) whose salary was partly funded by the UK govt. got large pay rises because the Chinese govt. would have to carry them on.
Considering the distance the ferry has to travel and that it is then moored up to allow vehicles and passengers on and off for several minutes, it would seem ripe for full battery electrification. After all the Scandinavians have a fully electric ferry plying far longer routes around the fjords.
Batteries would not have the capacity to keep going, but I can see a theoretical potential idea in them getting recharged each time they are attached to the pier while they load and unload. However, most batteries have a limited number of cycles, and for a ferry that is in constant use, those cycles would be used up very quickly. The distance is short enough that, at face value, it could run on an electrical umbilical cord. However, once you've got two ferries then they have to be arranged so that they wouldn't get tangled up and wound round each other. Or caught up by other ships. I don't know if there are actually any ferries run on electrical umbilical cords.
@@herseem Some types of battery will last a very long time if they are just used for short periods with regular top-ups; periodic optimised refresh cycles could improve their lifetime further. Sure they would need to be replaced eventually just like a car battery, but I suspect they could do tens of thousands of journeys between replacements. Bear in mind that diesel engines also need more maintenance than pure electric motors, as well as the fuel cost which is rising all the time. Overall the costs of a battery powered ferry could easily be lower - especially if some of the electricity can be generated from wind turbines on the banks and on the ferries, making use of the fact that it's usually pretty windy around there!
@@jammin023 Tens of thousands of cycles 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 like a lot but, considering the large number of daily crossings, the lifetime of the batteries would only be a few years at most.
I'm no expert on such matters but a vessel this heavy is going to need some serious batteries, which will add hugely to the weight of the ferry, which will then require even bigger batteries. It doesn't seem to be a great idea really.😁
Why not use people doing community service as galley slaves to power the ferries? I can just imagine a big, burley bloke standing over a big drum banging out the strokes like in the film Ben Hurr... Ramming Speed! 😉
@@trevordance5181 Way too sensible!! Social workers would be screaming "Human rights" from the top of lamp posts. The first time someone got a blister, there would need to be a risk assessment carried out and the "equal opportunities" crowd would insist that the 𝑏𝑖𝑔, 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑘𝑒 was actually a disabled woman, from an ethnic minority. The drum would be banned as racial stereotyping and noise pollution and every ferry in the land would be out on strike, claiming unfair competition.
By the time the "crew" had taken all their "personal needs breaks" and undergone counselling for their traumatic working conditions, there would be queues of traffic, stretching from the ferries back to Dover.
Apart from these teething troubles, I see no reason why it wouldn't work.
🥁 Yo Ho Heave Ho🥁 😁 Bob Hoskins would have been a good man for the job.😂
Brilliant, in the 50s/60s as a kid it was great fun going to Woolwich just to keep going across, what a fun day out.
You know, for some reason that never occurred to me....
But they make you get off and get back on again!
Or you can take the ferry one way and the foot tunnel the other? But be warned it is a lot longer than the Greenwich foot tunnel
There's something special about a ferry, it makes going south of the river feel exotic.
"the army took matters into their own handies..."
So cheesey but worth it
That’s what puns are there for 😂😂
They rolled up their sleevies
> 2:00 < transportation for the arsenal
Are the grounds of Arsenal near here?
th-cam.com/video/WlAOYuzoQjw/w-d-xo.html
That wonderful moment when you find an old Jago Hazzard film you haven't seen before! ❤
Talking recently to someone who drives one of these or may have now retired, they are looking at total leccy propulsion but they wouldn't be able to hold them against the ramps with the props turning which is the current practice because batteries would be charging.
Good news indeed. Less risk of being electrocuted if the ferry should flood or sink for any reason.
(the US Navy abandoned turbo-electric drive on their warships for good reason)
@@jimtaylor294 One tenet to live your life by...electricity and water do not go well together!
@@LesD9 Precisely ;-)
Thanks for the recent videos about the North Woolwich, that being a place we often visited during the school holidays just to ride on the free ferry.
What a grand day out getting a "Red Bus Rover" and travelling all the way from Walthamstow on the number 69 bus.... no sniggering at the back.... with our sandwiches and a bottle of pop. You try telling the young of today that that was a grand day out...would they believe you....would they heck as like!
A grand day out to the yoof of today appears to be going to one of the Westfields (or equivalent shopping centres outside London) and hanging around, so despite the sheer lack of cool inherent in catching a bus for a ride on a ferry, I'd definitely prefer it to hanging around a mall complaining that there was nuffin to f***in do anywhere.
Mind you, my early teens were spent using a National Wanderbus or Explorer ticket to head out of the West Midlands and ride around the Midlands on Midland Red buses, all on my tod, which is something the kids of today probably wouldn't be allowed to do "because it's too dangerous" so hanging around shopping centres is pretty much all that's open to them. I feel sorry for the kids of today.
My memories are sketchy and they must have happened before I joined the Army is January 1964 at the age of 15 and a half. I can remember being taken to travel the ferry by my Aunt who lived in Plumstead. I couldn't wait to board and spent the entire crossing below deck just mesmerised by the engine movements and the sound of sheer power, and the smell !!..........sheer heaven.
The thing I find surprising is that it is still time and cost effective for people to line up and wait for the ferry, especially for commercial lorries ⛴ 🚛
Yesterday I used the ferry (partly as a slightly circuitous route, though the time difference wasn't that much) and while the queues weren't insane, the ferry load that arrived, that I was a part of, and that was waiting to replace the load I was a part of were all filled up.
I'd guess that lorries going north but can't fit in the northbound Blackwall tunnel might make up some of the load, as well as those starting/finishing their journey close to one of the piers, and more recently, the extended ULEZ would theoretically be a large part of the ferry demand!
When I hear on the radio traffic news, as often is the case, that there is only a reduced one boat service operating the Woolwich Ferry, I always end up singing to myself...
"One Woolwich Ferry,
There's only one Woolwich Ferry,
One Woolwich Ferrrr-eeee,
There's only one Woolwich Ferry", to the tune of 'Guantanamera' by The Sandpipers.
5ft passengers vs 150ft passengers? Well, at least the 5ft ones have room to stand up! Another fantastic video - thanks Jago! You are the entertainment to my lazy Sunday afternoon.
I remember travelling to x fro on the paddle ferries as a child. On warm days the crew would leave the doors to the engine room open. One could then marvel at the huge engine operating, (very little health x safety then)! The other memory is of a very strong stink from the river. Ah! the good old days!
Space for 150-foot passengers? That seems a bit unnecessary. Are the Woolwichians giants?
You'd think they'd just wade across.
Can we have a ‘Bazelgette’ episode? He’s a bit of a personal hero…
On 21st March 1941 my grandfather was ship's cook on the SS Halo which was delivering coal to London. As it approached the N. Woolwich pier it hit a mine and sank, the impact from the explosion rendering my grandfather profoundly deaf and ending his career as a seaman. As the wreck was blocking the approach to the pier it had to be removed; it was repaired and put back into service. Shortly before the end of the war, the Halo was sailing off the coast of Holland when it was torpedoed, this time being lost for good.
I have a memory of seeing the paddle versions and looking at the engines you could see then, but I was not cycling round there until the later 1960's, so I was probably with my father - the family had a small road haulage company based in Plaistow and he would drive one of the lorries when they were short handed.
Cue loud foghorn! I used to travel back and forth on the woolwich ferry back in the 60's when I used to live just up the road from woolwich. My mum used to take me to some place called eastham but I can't remember what it even looks like as I was only a little sprog at the time. All I remember is the crossings. And I also vaguely remember the old wooden beams on the woolwich landing before it was rebuilt and modernised.
It certainly 'floated my boat' Jago. Another extremely interesting and very watchable video. Thank you.
> 7:53 < floated
I live in Beckton and one my suppliers is in Woolwich. The journey by ferry is very enjoyable but I take it approximately 3% of the time, the rest is by the Blackwall tunnel, much more convenient. Woolwich ferry has a reduced service much of the time if it's not closed for technical issues or numerous strikes. I can count on one hand when I took the new ferries since 2017...
Could they not coincide the strike with the mechanical breakdown with the foggy day, and actually increase the probability of the service operating ?
This channel is awesome. Plain and simple.
@8:06 *Public Service Announcement*
No boroughs were dissected in the making of this video, the ferry or the towns of Woolwich.
North Woolwich is its own town in the London Borough of Newham. The River Thames separates this borough from the Royal Borough of Greenwich in the south.
Woolwich is the administrative HQ of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
No one who grew up in Woolwich ever ventures deep into North Woolwich.
Seems the next obvious step in your Thames Crossing Odyssey may finally be the infamous Princess Alice Disaster.
I have been thinking about that. So it gets my vote.
Have used the ferry intermittently for decades. After a long day at Canary Wharf, its nice to bob along the river and take in the views/get some space.
I dont know what it is about ferry rides but I love taking them. Here in Seattle Washington USA we have several ferries leaving from downtown to various destinations. We have one that is walk on passenger & bicycle only to British Columbia Canada. We have one to Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island, & Bremerton, WA. Then a few miles north one to Windby Island.
Fantastic in the 60‘S I used to go across with my gran to get jellied eels as she was from silver town and moved to Welling in the 30’s, later my father in law was a lighterman on the ferry that’s how he met my ex.wife’s mother small world good to see its still going next time I manage to get back to the UK I will give it a try thank you
I once appeared in a play called “Murder on The Woolwich Ferry” at the Tom Allen Centre in Stratford.
I'm 75 now but when I was young I used to get the bus to Woolwich just to go backwards and forwards on the ferry and especially to go to the observation area and watch the engine with its huge con-rods going up an down and all highly polished brass. Beautiful,,, and the smell,,,, to die for
😥 Ben Woollacott - 19 years old - So sad 😢
Another gem, Jago. As kids, my mate and I would go out for the day and come home via the ferry. After 60 yrs we both remember the huge 'Granada' neon sign shining out, with a fuzzy red reflection in the river.
I well remember watching the old steam ferry engines when using the ferries in the 1950s and 1960s.
My kids used to love the ferry and on a couple of occasions sailed(?) on it from south to north and back, just for the fun of it.
Real treat when I was a child to ride back and forth on this. Gran plying my brother and I with mint imperials and lemonade.
RIP Ben. Very sad news that
You describe the foot passenger part of the new Woolwich ferries as “pretty spacious”, but it is basically a glorified footpath with a shelter. The old boats had basically the whole lower deck for foot passengers, which meant in the latter years and enormous empty maze to walk round during the crossing and fun to find the exit in the opposite corner of the vessel!
I used to travel on the previous ferries to and from work, and was always appreciative of the cocktail lounge and duty free shop. Sadly I haven't used the new ferries and fear that they will not have the same levels of luxury.
Lovely. I used to cross here all the time back in the 80's with my late father. Good times.
Just a suggestion, why not something on the Thames Watermen
Those ferries bring back memories. Back at the end of the 80s early 90s I lived in North Essex whilst my family lived in Cornwall. Loathing the M25 round north London and tunnel tolls (OK, I'm a cheapskate) my preferred route was A12, N Circ to Woolwich and, eventually, the M3 to the A303
Thank you. Nice ferry. I remember travelling on the steamers in the 1950s.
I haven't been on the new boats yet, but did go on the older ones, both as a car passenger (well, you see, we'd been over the river - on a bridge - and under it - in a tunnel - that day, so we had to cross on it as well, didn't we?) and, a bit later, on foot. Wonderful passenger accommodation below-decks, very old-fashioned.
When I was at Thames Poly - now Greenwich University - during the 1980s, we were not allowed to have rag week. Apparently this was because a couple of years previously, on two consecutive years, students had stolen a Woolwich ferry overnight and driven it down the river, on the second occasion crashing it into something. So the poly was banned from having rag week for ten years. I was told.
I love the on board Duty Free shop. I always stock up on Jellied Eels.
Only 5 foot passengers? Do you have a height limit on the ferries?
I think it's to maintain a low centre of gravity.,Just a theory.
🤣 Ha! Ha! Very funny indeed 😂.
😂
When I lived in Charlton as a student we used to get the Woolwich Ferry for lads East End drinking Saturdays, late 60s a lot of East London pubs had live music.
Up until the 1950s the _Pool of London,_ and the docks and moorings stretching out from it up the Thames estuary, still rendered our city the then busiest port in the world - more so than even the likes of Rotterdam or Shanghai.
While cannonballs excavated during construction on the vast original Woolwich Arsenal site, are prominently displayed at the entrance to the immense, three prison, HMP Belmarsh complex (don’t ask me how I know), which took up much of its original territory - *bombsite* is the most chilling, sobering webpage on the damage the Blitz wrought, but how easily we forget just how much of a military rather than just civilian target the geography today termed London was; think of all those BrEN guns ENfield was churning out alone.
As for the appropriate demonym for the historic Woolwichanese: _”Woolies”?_
Woolwichians
This is very nice. I love riding on river boats.
In the early 1950s London Transport's London River sightseeing tour bus included the ferry crossing.
One of the ferry boats proudly displayed a bullet hole received when she was used for the Dunkirk evacuation,
missed out the roll that the ferry played in the dunkirk evacuations and how brave the ferryman was and how many lives they saved
Role*
Having been out of the UK since 1995 I have never seen those new ferries .. the old black white and yellow ones are the last I saw. Nice to be "updated"
"Artists impression believed accurate" 🤣
Ah, the Greater London Council (GLC): I remember The Comic Strips Presents making a satirical film about the end of the GLC that portrayed Ken Livingstone as a sort-of Rambo-like character. And it had a lot of guns in the story too...
I remember it well.
When the Sandbanks Ferry near Poole was out of action for maintenance: "It's out ferry that floats, not your car, so don't try to cross without us".
I remember seeing an old map of Kent when it included a lot of what is now Greater London. North Woolwich was drawn with a border round and the words"Part of Kent".
Great video. I presumed the ferry would have been cancelled/stopped like so many things covered here. It's nice to see some things endure.
Well done for turning up on a day the ferry workers weren’t on strike
Isn't it their legal right to do so, once officially balloted?
@@BarryAllenMagic Absolutely. And fair play to the workers and Union for trying to improve conditions
The Docklands is such a vibrant area in East London with lots of history, a ferry service, Emirates Air-Line cable car, the Docklands Light Railway and of course the Blackwall Tunnel. Connecting East London and Southeast London within few minutes from each other which way you want to travel. Maybe a ferry service could be ideal in West London but it doesn’t need it as it’s got District Line, London Overground, National Rail and roads going over the River Thames.
Serco : Nuclear weapons ... prisons ... immigration detention centers ...
Perhaps just abbreviating their business concerns to general all purpose evil might be more concise ?
That depends on your point of view. Those in prison don't like them, their victims do,
Is serco owned by Dr evil
@@chrisoffer3074 Possibly by a friend of Priti Patel, but I can't confirm that.
And sadly the Caledonian Sleeper which they seemed to have turned into a very upmarket prison!
Sometimes known as Stirco, due to their involvement in prisons.
I hope you don’t mind me asking how recently this was filmed? I lived in Woolwich for a number of years but moved away in April, and I’m surprised by how much progress they’ve made on the building just upriver from the southern pier. That whole area was a muddy pit for as long as I was there, they had planned to build on it right when the financial crisis hit and the plot sat unused for more than a decade. I’d not actually seen a stone laid by the time I left. Even though it’s just another block of flats it’s nice to see they’re finally doing it.
hi, i remember using the ferry in the 80s you could go down and look at the engines, i think they were Mirlees diesel power units. great memories.pity woolwich stn was closed, but clowns now run london and all the good old BR lines are now gone
That station closed decades ago! And which "good old BR lines" have gone?
Aren’t they using some of the old track route for Crossrail?
that was one of my chat up lines when i was a callow youth. “you dance like a fairy” …… “Woolwich Ferry”
That's better than ' do you want to come on my boat'
only if he has a bigger boat
Is it me or do the Woolwich ferries appear to spend much of their time doing water pirouettes? 😀
Ha ha, I don’t know, I’ve never ever seen said ferry, but the mental picture that you created in my mind is wonderful so I just wanted to let you know that, and to say thank you 🙂🐿❤️
Yes i noticed that, the ferry sort of pirouetted its way across the river.
Dancing ferries, I like the idea of that.
@@mattscudder1975 Yay, exactly, yes me too 🙂🐿❤️
@@robertstorey7476 - it’s just a fantastic mental picture and such skilled boatmenship/ferrypersonship.....ANYWAY ha ha I’m really loving it.🙂🐿
Shipmanship?
Shippersonship?
I’m kinda liking shipmanship if I’m honest 🤪
Yes, I’m a little bit mad (but in a good way).
I use the Ferry everyday except Fridays when they're on strike.
The ferries I took in 1990 were the big yellow ones and it was the General Gordon that was my favourite…
"Artist's impression, believed accurate"? Well, I'm sold
I wish there was a list of historic ferry crossings. There are some fantastic assets online detailing historic railways, but nothing for old ferries that have been replaced by bridges or tunnels. Just a bit further down the river, there used to be a Tilbury-Gravesend car ferry before the Dartford Tunnel was constructed.
20-25 years ago when I was a child, my family took a trip on the 'SeaCat' (catamaran) to Boulogne from Folkestone harbour, since Folkestone's closer to home than Dover. Horrible experience, the SeaCat. Le tunnel was finished soon afterwards and with that, the catamaran was finished too.
the ramps to the ferry before they up-dated them were aimed towards Powis street and were what would nowadays be classed as being 6'6"wide, many a car driver hesitated before they drove on.
i have spent many a happy hour sitting waiting for this ferry. it a nice ferry and the staff are very friendly.
Hoped you might have some footage of the magnificent paddle steamers I remember when we used to visit relatives in south London in the 50s. The wonderful engines were totally on view. The combined aromas of steam, hot oil and churned up riverbed once smelt never forgotten! By contrast I hated the then single bore Blackwall Tunnel as I was mildly claustrophobic and we were once stuck in there for nearly an hour when a double-decker bus and a lorry got wedged on a corner.
It always seemed very popular with lorries - is that because they are carrying loads prohibited by the Blackwall and Dartford tunnels?
In the 1980s I was in the Army and was detailed to deliver a nuclear war head to Gray's for onward delivery. My colleagues and I were told quite explicitly "Absolutely no f*****g tunnels whilst loaded" As a Londoner I got to drive. We got some strange looks from the crew and other passengers onboard the ferry. They probably thought we were going to the Woolwich Garrison
To answer this question, all you have to do is drive a lorry through the Blackwall tunnel.
Thank you very much for a very interesting video. The last night of the three 1963 vessels was very memorable.
Interestingly a Routemaster bus was on the last north crossing. It was hosting a "Hen Party" I recall the driver asked why there were so many people on the car deck.
I was taken down into the engine room of the 'James Newman' which was a very interesting experience.
The engine room of James Newman?! Is that a euphemism?!
I feel the need for a Waterrman versus Lighterman delve into the murky waters of the Thames. Doggett's Coat and Badge race anyone?
Wherries, hoys and barges!
Well,Jago,a New World connection,in New York,there is the Staten Island ferry,with a fair history,but not as long as Woolwich! It is now free Ferry,but had railroad connections,both to the New York Central,and the Baltimore & Ohio,but that's for another day! The harbor has many tales,too,but like Woolwich,taken for granted,and I forgot,one last piece of information,the Southern Railway,had a Class of 2-6-0's
The space bar works much better than a comma for clarity.
your pun is national treasure
A few years back (15-20?) I was on one of the ferries that had been hired for a party for special needs children. We travelled up the Thames and through Tower Bridge which opened specially for us. The boat then proceeded to kill time waiting for the bridge to open again to let us back downstream, by spinning about its centre point, sometimes quite fast, to the amusement of onlookers and the discomfort of passengers 🤢. If I ever get on it now I immediately feel queasy!
They had a lot of technical problems with the new ferry boats
Which country manufactures them ?
Yes, not so much with the ferry themselves, but with compatibility with the docking system