Ferries across waterways - whether by vehicle, foot or both (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

Some more to add:
Polruan Pedestrian Ferry
Bodinnick Car Ferry (Looe to Fowey)
East Looe to West Looe
Cawsand (Plymouth)

[eightf48544]

in ex GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) territory.

The Symonds Yat ferry which swings acroos the Wye on a cable using the current. Carbon free!

Aren't there a coiuple of ferries near Severn Valley stations?

[ray951]

East Cowes to West Cowes

[grahame]

East Cowes to West Cowes

Sorry - couldn't resist.  Thank you to the Pioneer Woman for making this image available

[SandTEngineer]

I searched for a photograph for East Looe to West Looe but couldn't find one......

If you do find one, please, please don't post it here

[eightonedee]

add - Exmouth to Starcross and Topsham to Exminster Marshes. When I last used the latter, we had to wait because the ferryman suspended the service to rescue a yacht that had broken free from its mooring and was drifting down river!

[Bmblbzzz]

Lower Lode ferry, just outside Tewkesbury: https://www.tewkesbury.town/tewkesbury-ferry-lower-lode/index.htm

Just to note Bristol Harbour has two regular ferry services: one runs up and down the river and harbour, while the other runs across the harbour more or less opposite the SS Great Britain.

[Bmblbzzz]

Depending how far back you want to go, there are loads of places where the road layout indicates there must have been a small ferry at one point. For instance this one, also not far from Tewkesbury. No idea when it last ran:
https://www.streetmap.co.uk/idld.srf?X=390672&Y=236601&A=Y&Z=120&lm=1

[SandTEngineer]

A few more lesser known ones:
Instow to Appledore (Torridge Estuary)
Gillan to St Anthony (Gillan Creek)
Helford River
St Mawes to Place Creek
Plymouth Sutton Harbour to Mount Batten Park
Wembury Point to Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo (River Yealm)
Shaldon to Teignmouth (River Teign) (This is England's longest-running passenger ferry, with written records of the ferry dating back to 1296)
Turf/Topsham (River Exe)
Weymouth Harbour

[Reginald25]

There must be numerous small ones, particularly those of pedestrians such as that at Christchurch. The definition of small appears here to be crossing a river or estuary where there is an alternative land route. Looking at the lists that have been identified, there are significant ones that are unlikely to fail, mainly those for vehicles. To the lists above I might add the Woolwich ferry, one that I know well, and of course the Ferry cross the Mersey!

Smaller ones like the Weymouth ferry are really not essential, but if it keeps someone occupied with very little overheads then good.

[grahame]

From On the Wight

A well written explanation which - although this is a ferry - could be applied to buses and trains too.

Earlier today (Friday) members of a Facebook Group called ‘Restrictions on Isle Of Wight ferries’ sent emails to the leader of the Isle of Wight council, Dave Stewart, voicing their concerns over a possible influx of second-home owners and holidaymakers for the bank holiday weekend.

Some within the Group had tried to book ferry crossings from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight for today, but found the 1pm, 3pm and 5pm crossings were fully booked. This understandably led to concerns that people weren’t heeding the council leader’s message to ‘stay away’.

Investigating further to find out what was going on, News OnTheWight has discovered something that sheds some light.

Understanding the capacity issues

News OnTheWight got in touch with Wightlink who confirmed that capacity on their vehicle ferry crossings has been much-reduced since the Coronavirus lockdown.

An example given is that their flagship ferry, Victoria of Wight, usually has a capacity for 1,170 passengers per crossing.

Since the lockdown this has been reduced to 100, with typically there being only around 20 passengers per crossing. Most of Wightlink’s foot passengers have switched to using the Hovercraft and other passengers are required to remain in their vehicles for the duration of the crossing.

Distancing and freight

Wightlink say it’s important to factor in that vehicles comes in all shapes and sizes and although there may be capacity for say 100 vehicles, once the spacing out of those vehicles is implemented, it could take the capacity down to 50 vehicles.

In addition, freight lorries obviously take up the space of several cars and so before long, a crossing could be fully booked, but well before reaching the new reduced capacity level.

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Over the sea to Skye on the world’s last turntable ferry

I have fond memories of using this ferry ... and others at Corran (now a larger boat) and from Kylesku to Kylestrome (now a bridge). We have a handful of ferries in the south west ... Sandbanks, Weymouth harbour, Tamar, Plymouth to France and Spain,  .. and I'm going to leave it at that for others to come in and add to the list. 

[Oxonhutch]

The Kylesku to Kylestrome one features strong in my memory on a university field trip to the Assynt region in 1979. Other ferries well used include the Windermere chain ferry from Bowness to Hawkshead in the Lake District and that from the Kyle of Lochalsh to Skye (now a bridge).

[bradshaw]

While travelling to visit a series of locosheds in South Wales in the 1960s we experienced the Aust Ferry and its turntable.

[Bmblbzzz]

I never knew there was such a thing. Interesting!