# Now On Line: Historic Transatlantic Liner Schedules



## ehbowen (Jan 20, 2015)

I've added a new section to my web site. The _Official Guide_ for many years carried a consolidated schedule of transatlantic ocean liner sailings, and occasionally transpacific sailings and fare information were included as well. I've begun taking scans of those pages and posting them on a new page that I call The Steamship Agency. A quick Google search doesn't show much of anything like it currently up on the Web (although feel free to let me know if I've missed something), so come on by and feel free to take a look!


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jan 20, 2015)

Great transatlantic sailing lists! Keep up the good work! Those pre-war scans are especially interesting.


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## cirdan (Jan 20, 2015)

Thanks for this.

My grandfather was a chef on ocean liners. He worked on the Holland America Line and also other lines but sadly i don't know which ships and years.

He was a senior chef and got to prepare food for many celebrities, including Greta Grabo and Charlie Chaplin. In those days it was a tradition that celebrities would thank the kitchen staff personally at the end of a voyage and he had many mementoes. Sadly, I don't know what happened to them.


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## railiner (Jan 21, 2015)

Very nice! I certainly appreciate your effort!


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## jis (Jan 21, 2015)

Interesting that many Cunard ships called at both Southampton and Cherbourg!


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## railiner (Jan 22, 2015)

jis said:


> Interesting that many Cunard ships called at both Southampton and Cherbourg!


It took relatively little time to make the additional stop, and tapped a large potential market. In later years, they called at Le Havre instead of Cherbourg.


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## cirdan (Jan 22, 2015)

railiner said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > Interesting that many Cunard ships called at both Southampton and Cherbourg!
> ...


I understand that one of the reasons Southampton grew to such importance as a port (both for passengers and freight) is that it could easily be combined with runs to other ports such as Le Havre or even Antwerp or Rotterdam. This is why over time a lot of traffic shifted to Southhampton that previously used ports such as Bristol, Liverpool and even London. The Cunard ocean liners still start from Southampton today, and the port also handles a lot of intercontinental freight. I think its either the number 1 or number 2 UK port today in terms of container volumes.

Rail-wise that's a bit of a challenge though as the rail lines into Southhampton have some pretty tight clearances and quite a bit of money has been spent in recent years scraping them to enhance clearances for so bigger container sizes can even go by train. The network is also heavily used by passenger trains leaving little capacity for freight. It is a great tragedy the Southhampton to Didcot via Newbury line was closed in the 1960s. What is currently being proposed is an "electric spine" meaning the Basingstoke to Southampton line will be changed from third rail DC to overhead AC electrification (or possibly even dual electrification) so that freights coming from the north can be pulled by electric locomotives, increasings speeds and performance,

The other makor UK ports are on the whole much easier to get to by rail freight so the development of Southampton is maybe not really the best for rail, but a good and growing volume of that freight is going by train which is a good sign.


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## trainman74 (Jan 22, 2015)

jis said:


> Interesting that many Cunard ships called at both Southampton and Cherbourg!


When I took the Queen Elizabeth II in 1984, due to a dock strike at Southampton, we instead arrived at Cherbourg and were flown across the Channel.


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## railiner (Jan 23, 2015)

cirdan said:


> railiner said:
> 
> 
> > jis said:
> ...


Navigating all the way into London, is only possible by the very smallest of cruise ships--say in the 10,000 GRT, or so, size. The same to nearby Greenwich or Tilbury.

Most cruise ships serving London, if not sailing from Southampton, will use either Dover or Harwich. Liverpool is slowly making a comeback, with a new cruise terminal....


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