A Train & Boat trip from London via Harwich to Flushing in 1927 in color! [AI enhanced & colorized]

Interesting footage about a train and boat trip from London Liverpool Street Station via Harwich to Flushing (Vlissingen) in The Netherlands, almost a century ago.
Crossing the North Sea was on a ferry of the Dutch "Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland" (SMZ) company. Before World War II this ferry served a daily crossing between Harwich in the county of Essex and Vlissingen in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The company was established as early as in 1875. During WWII the service was suspended. After WWII the company moved its operations in 1945 to Hook of Holland. In the late sixties SMZ joined forces with British rail to form Sealink. This popular sea route was taken over in 1989 by the Scandinavia Stena line which still operates this twice-daily service. Stena Line is currently 100% owned by P&O Ferries.
The music is byTrevor Kowalski, titled "The Mountain Disconnect"
Source B&W original: Beeld en Geluid

[@Rick88888888]

*I have many more nice, A.I. enhanced films about London during and before World War-II (and even from the 1900s) in colour* : kzbin.info/aero/PLP_6hUsQRi8sOgzj80XqJ5nUUTxL_KDWb

[@ronaldmondriaan897]

Thank you Rick, My grandfather was a 3rd engineer on board of one of the Koningin Wilhelmina of the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland. He sailed from Flushing to Folkstone in England. Unfortunately in 1916 the ship stroke a german mine near the English coast and my grand father was badly injured and died. After the 2nd WOII my father sailed from many years as a purser from Hook of Holland to Harwich. For me it was a great adventure to cross ,as a young guy with my father and nephew, the NorthSea on one of the vessels of the SMZ. So Rick many thank for this lovely video it brings back the memories. Heel leuk bedankt hoor 😀 👍🏽

[@Hey_its_Koda]

My grandfather was born in 1922. Cant believe he was only 5 years old at this time. He was born 10 years after the Titanic sank and 4 years after World War 1 ended. Time passes so fast.

[@hughrainbird43]

Thanks for another fascinating post of travel across the North Sea between England and Holland, pre-dating your film of the 1939 "Prinses Beatrix" crossing from Flushing by twelve years In the year you date this film, the SMZ ferry services to Flushing had changed their English port to Harwich Parkeston Quay on the Essex coast after agreement with London & North Eastern Railway to provide connecting boat trains from London Liverpool Street, when they had previously sailed from Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, at the confluence of the River Medway and the Thames Estuary. This would have shortened the journey time by some hours. (There would also have been a better connection with the North of England via the LNER's "North Country Continental" service between Manchester and Harwich). Liverpool Street had the reputation of being a badly laid-out dark and smoky cavern in steam days, and was so when I travelled from there with with my parents to Harwich in 1956 to take ship for a cruise to Norway. The train shown is hauled by an ex-Great Eastern Railway B12 4-6-0 and the carriages are mostly designed by Nigel Gresley, who would later produce the famous A4 Pacifics, of which "Mallard" holds the World Record for speed for a steam engine, and would have been in the "oiled teak" finish of the LNER, though the last vehicle in the clip appears to be ex-Great Eastern Railway, possibly providing buffet or dining facilities. There's plenty of luggage space in the Brake/3rd coach immediately behind the engine. It's rather alarming to watch the negligent attitude of the two railwaymen on the foot crossing in front of the departing train, the second almost being clipped by the departing engine's buffer. No Hi-Viz clothing or Health and Safety in the 1920's! The "Flushing Ferry" make an appearance in In Arthur "Swallows and Amazons" Ransome's novel "We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea",(1937) where the Walker children, staying at Pin Mill on the River Orwell near Harwich, are swept out into the North Sea aboard the small yacht "Goblin", and make a hair raising night crossing to landfall on the Dutch coast near Flushing, with an illustration in the book of a similar ship to the ones shown in this film.

[@ericlovett9022]

Mesmerising; what a tidy and orderly World it was.

[@alcamerc9923]

I wanna go back, feel the breeze of innocence and inner peace, the days when you contributed to life’s happening, instead of feeling yours was on the line. Rod Serling, where are you?

[@johndavis7992]

I do love the old videos, how people dress, and how thay travel back in time. Good filming. Plus in colour.

[@markorollo.]

15 years after Titanic, and my Grandad was only 3 years old, blows my mind a bit that.

[@keithjones6023]

My Mother was 7, still with us, had her Covid vaccination today.

[@markorollo.]

@@keithjones6023 hope youre both doing well.

[@keithjones6023]

@@markorollo. Thank you, and I hope you and your family all keep well.

[@keithjones6023]

Another lovely film, you almost felt you'd like to wave to the passenger's when they were leaving port. These films show a completely different world to the one we live in now, some say they were the good old days, in a way l suppose, but not completely. There are so many improvements which have come about to make modern living so much better.

[@MrDaiseymay]

Beyond doubt, and I for one wouldn't 'swop'. Living through the war and into the 50's shortages was hard enough. But it's great to enjoy a bit of nostalgia.

[@Steven_Rowe]

Nice to see the B12 loco leaving Liverpool Street

[@captainbuggernut9565]

Thank you for this thought provoking film. I found myself wondering what happened to the family watching from the ferry. I wonder if the little boy had a good life.

[@MrDaiseymay]

I often do that, select someone, and wonder who they are, where they lived, and what they did that day.

[@herminar4955]

dankjewel rick. zooo goed gedaan.

[@robertfox882]

Absolutely wonderful.. Thank you.

[@danieldouwes-martinez2704]

Really great video👍

[@AndyJ_Media]

Another superb piece of footage uploaded, thank you. I wonder how many hours it takes to work out the speed rate of the original footage along with the Colourisation added. These videos put a new perspective to the time 'that' generation lived many years ago. I live in Felixstowe which Harwich neighbours just over the mouth of the River Orwell. By any chance would you have any footage from Felixstowe at all? Keep up the good work.

[@Rick88888888]

Thank you very much. Correcting the speed is a matter of judgement and experimentation. Nowadays I manage to get the speed right in no more than three tries, i.e. within 5 minutes. The speed reduction for hand cranked film is usually between 55% and 75% of the speed at 25 fps (i.e between about 15 and 18 fps). So far I have not stumbled on any footage about Felixstowe, sorry.

[@AndyJ_Media]

@@Rick88888888Very interesting, you have plenty of patience when editing these vintage clips and no worries at all! I look forward to more uploads. This is a great way of keeping occupied when in Lockdown. Thank you for the quick reply 👍

[@GRAHAM1514]

Another Excellent one And as it has trains in it i will give you another point 11 out of 10 !

[@MrDaiseymay]

And what a monster---ousing power.

[@Sebastianmaz615]

Excellent video! Sometimes I think I'd love to go back in time for around 1 month. Solely to get a true feeling/perspective on what society and/or the world (maybe just the USA) was genuinely like. Before all things electronic, tv, & anything dealing with space/universe. I guess 100 years ago, 1921 would be a good time to try for. Anyway, enough dreaming. Btw, where do you get all of these vintage reels from?

[@jameswelsh453]

brilliant thanks

[@maryloulong6789]

That was awesome

[@piderman871]

1:42 When your dad is a magician...

[@maggieoakley9020]

Fabulous love this!

[@user-wp9wh4rm5d]

Душевное кино как всегда .Спасибо.

[@MrDaiseymay]

Great quality Rick, as usual. I love the womens 'Cloche' Hats, which match their bobbed short hair. A short moment before the wall st Crash I assume, when the world went down the drain--in many ways, and leading to catastrophy.

[@amersfoortsefotograa]

Are you quite sure it was Flushing (Vlissingen) as a destination?? The ferries always went from Harwich to Hook of Holland (Hoek van Holland) i believe... The ferry that went to Flushing departed from Sheerness. I've been on both multiple times, but not as early as in the 20's ofcourse...

[@hughrainbird43]

According to the "Harwich & Dovercourt" website, www.harwichanddovercourt.co.uk/harwich-ships/smz/the departure port for the SMV - Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland ferry services was moved from Sheereness to Harwich in 1927, the date given for this film, after agreement with the London & North Eastern Railway to run connecting boat train services between London Liverpool Street and their Harwich Parkeston Quay facility. In those days before popular car ownership, most passengers would have joined their ferry by this means. The port on the Dutch side was always Vlissingen (Flushing), until after World War II, when the installations there were so badly damaged that the destination was switched to Hoek van Holland. Previously, the trains connecting London with Sheerness would have been provided by the Southern Railway (earlier the South Eastern & Chatham) by a branch line which crossed the Isle of Sheppey from the main line at Sittingbourne. If you've travelled the Sheerness route - it was operated by Olau Line in the 1970's - you'll appreciate that the train journey and shorter crossing from Harwich would have been a considerable speeding up of the service! As racing cyclists in the 1970's, living in south London, my team mates and I used the Olau service to Flushing, then took the ferry across the Schelde to Terneuzen to reach our accommodation in Gent when going to compete in "liefhebbers" kermisrits in Flanders. The day crossing was long and tedious, and was used mostly by commercial vehicles. Olau Line ran theses services as "booze cruises" towards the end to try and boost passenger numbers, and these were popular with the "chavs" of North Kent and the Medway Towns!

[@amersfoortsefotograa]

@@hughrainbird43 thanks for a very impressive answer! Ofcourse i had/have no knowledge of how things went in the 'good old days' but merely from when i was a dutch student at the Royal College of Art in the - indeed - seventies! I always travelled with my (t)rusty old Alfa GTV 1750, so i have no idea about trainservices. Since then i have visited England, Wales and Scotland more than 20 times on various old bikes like my 1976 Norton John Player Commando and my AJS 500cc single from 1953. Been in Blighty many times with my 1982 Porsche 911 cabrio too... Just love the place. Therefore it saddens me to see the UK in such dire circumstances these days... Keep up the spirit and hold on! I admire your efforts to go cycling in Belgium! Did you also do Luik / Bastenaken / Luik?

[@MrDaiseymay]

@@hughrainbird43 Very detailed, and convincing, but I've never been to London.

[@massimochinello3750]

Wonderful humanity in the Europe of peoples and identities.

[@MrDaiseymay]

IRONIC

[@MrAJO77]

Great footage. Thanks for sharing. Your description isn't quite correct though. P&O bought Stena's share of P&O Stena Line at Dover only. P&O does not own any other Stena group company or route. Stena Line is wholly owned by Stena AB in Sweden.

[@Rick88888888]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stena_Line#:~:text=was%20ever%20completed.-,English%20Channel,its%20name%20to%20P%26O%20Ferries.

[@MrAJO77]

The highlighted section of that article is only referring to P&O Stena Line, which was never involved in the Harwich service. P&OSL was a temporary joint venture at Dover and Newhaven to combat the Channel Tunnel. The Newhaven service closed in 1999, and P&O did buy out Stena's shares at Dover in 2002, but both companies had their own services elsewhere (including Stena at Harwich) which were never merged, so they weren't part of the deal.​@Rick88888888

[@sylvier9548]

belle vidéo

[@robertorup9680]

👍🇸🇪

[@emirbxl]

I was shock when i visited london cause you can't see british!