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
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.
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.😂
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.
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.
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?
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 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.
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 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.
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 love the ferry, it is by far my favourite way to cross that part of the river. The Blackwall tunnel and the Dartford crossings being the alternatives makes it a no brainer!
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.
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"
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.
Woolwich is very unique because it's situated in South, East, and also has a Football Team based in North London by the name of The Arsenal. It has also done a lot of business shipping stuff to parts of West London in the 1800s too. Even Essex and Kent if you want to branch out. London would be a very boring place without Woolwich and The Arsenal.
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!
Having used the last three generations of ferry I can say that the current one is somewhat less memorable than the earliest of them - the creaks, groans, splashes etc made my young mind think I was very much in the wrong place (which is not a good impression). he middle one "just sort of worked" and left no impression at all; the current one is there, it dances all over the place and goes about it's job with great serenity (or at least it did so when I've used it). Then there's the tunnel....
You forgot to mention that a motorway tunnel crossing in Woolwich almost happened due to the london ringways scheme in the 1960s. The motorway tunnel was scrapped due to the cancellation of the scheme in the 1980s. It was supposed to be part of ringway 2 which would completely join up what we now know as the A406 (North circular road) and the A205 (South circular road) in Woolwich. I am guessing that it was supposed to replace the entire Woolwich ferry altogether correct me if I'm wrong
Every now and then the proposed plan for the "Eastern Access Gateway" gets re-floated which includes a new Bridge at Woolwich. If you look at maps of the area you can that roads in Becton and Thamesmead would line up quite nicely if a new bridge were to be built. Sadly the estimates to build it keep going up so it's never likely to get off the ground
4:10 the boats were designed by Joseph Bazalgette who designed London's sewer system. I seem to remember in the video about the North Woolwich Railway that a nearby area was named Urinal. Is it like that all over Woolwich?
Did you remember your Duty Free allowance? LOL. We used to wind up new drivers at a company I worked for and told them all that when using the Ferry to get their allowance. I crossed with one one day and he spent the entire crossing looking for the shop, the crew were not best pleased as he was a little late back to his van.... 'Nuff said I think....
Just think Joseph Bazalgette gave us the sewer and pumping system that is still in use Today, His great Grandson gave us the Big Brother Reality show, how standards have dropped.
Could do with a pedestrian ferry or opening-bridge 1 km downstream of the current Woolwich pier. We should expect to see a barely submerged tube in piers (4-lane + pedestrian cycle) tunnel linking Connaught Bridge Road to Warspite Rd, and another linking Marsh Way to Norman Rd. This submerged tunnel on piers technique is becoming very cheap with the massive size of equipment for marine structures.
The ferry has been a bit of a shambles in recent years, with the new ferries often out of action, alongside a lot of industrial disputes with the previous operator...
Random I know but have you ever researched London’s old Menageries (if there were any) I’m aware of one that was right in the centre of Glasgow and only shut when the animals had to be evacuated during the war. My grandfather tried to adopt a monkey, my grandmother said no! Just a idea 👍🏻
We've seen this building before, and i've also asked this question before, but what is that building in 5:13? The white block over the road? What is in it? What does it do?
There was a beat group (though they went into psych territory) named after the Woolwich Ferry, who turned out this little gem: ua-cam.com/video/Fht-HvxqpSQ/v-deo.html
Have a look at maps of this area and you can see that the current roads would line up nicely with a bridge between Becton and Thamesmead. Sadly it has never got further than the drawing board
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!
Serco : Nuclear weapons ... prisons ... immigration detention centers ... Perhaps just abbreviating their business concerns to general all purpose evil might be more concise ?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 😂
"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
I used to teach Ben Woollacott, nice guy lost far too soon.
> 7:09 < Woollacott - not to be confused with - Woolwich
@@295g295 One of the old waterman families - mine's up and down the Channel. Grandpa's grandpa was cut in half when a tow hawser snapped.
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.
The UA-cam subtitles for the word Woolwich came up with so many variations in this video that it's actually an Easter egg 😏
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.😂
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.
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.
That wonderful moment when you find an old Jago Hazzard film you haven't seen before! ❤
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?
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.
Until 1965 North Woolwich was an enclave of Kent, the bloodless coup made it part of the LB Newham, itself rescued from Essex.
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?
ua-cam.com/video/WlAOYuzoQjw/v-deo.html
Lovely. I used to cross here all the time back in the 80's with my late father. Good times.
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.
your pun is national treasure
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 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.
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!
😥 Ben Woollacott - 19 years old - So sad 😢
I love the ferry, it is by far my favourite way to cross that part of the river. The Blackwall tunnel and the Dartford crossings being the alternatives makes it a no brainer!
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.
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.
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"
"Artist's impression, believed accurate"? Well, I'm sold
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
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
I well remember watching the old steam ferry engines when using the ferries in the 1950s and 1960s.
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.
Woolwich is very unique because it's situated in South, East, and also has a Football Team based in North London by the name of The Arsenal. It has also done a lot of business shipping stuff to parts of West London in the 1800s too. Even Essex and Kent if you want to branch out. London would be a very boring place without Woolwich and The Arsenal.
Good old Arsenal, we're proud to say that name.
While we sing this song we'll win the game.
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*
Seriously fantastic video sir.
Woolwichians, Woolwichites,......... they're Woolies, surely?
Never the same since the demise of the Pick 'n' Mix!
‘That’s the wonder of Woolies’
😢 Sadly, F. W. Woolies are long gone from the High Streets of Britain . . .
Not watching the video yet, but that title pun is deserving enough for my like and this comment. Excellently done! :-D
When you were on it there were only five foot passengers. I didn't know apartheight operated on the ferry but now we know how tall you are Jago...
It spends more time on strike then it does running a full time service
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
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.
The ferries I took in 1990 were the big yellow ones and it was the General Gordon that was my favourite…
I live in woolwich and it's so delightful to see you cover these amazing stories
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!
I have not ridden this ferry but I well remember the previous one which looked rather old-fashioned.
My boat is floated 😎👌awesome my town and history 👍cycle past it all time I learned more now than a quick Google!
Thanks Jago
Having used the last three generations of ferry I can say that the current one is somewhat less memorable than the earliest of them - the creaks, groans, splashes etc made my young mind think I was very much in the wrong place (which is not a good impression). he middle one "just sort of worked" and left no impression at all; the current one is there, it dances all over the place and goes about it's job with great serenity (or at least it did so when I've used it).
Then there's the tunnel....
Dartford, Blackwall or Rotherhithe?
Oh, you mean the foot tunnel?
You forgot to mention that a motorway tunnel crossing in Woolwich almost happened due to the london ringways scheme in the 1960s. The motorway tunnel was scrapped due to the cancellation of the scheme in the 1980s. It was supposed to be part of ringway 2 which would completely join up what we now know as the A406 (North circular road) and the A205 (South circular road) in Woolwich. I am guessing that it was supposed to replace the entire Woolwich ferry altogether correct me if I'm wrong
See Jay Foreman unfinished London. There are still a couple of road bridges to nowhere in the Beckton area
Every now and then the proposed plan for the "Eastern Access Gateway" gets re-floated which includes a new Bridge at Woolwich. If you look at maps of the area you can that roads in Becton and Thamesmead would line up quite nicely if a new bridge were to be built. Sadly the estimates to build it keep going up so it's never likely to get off the ground
Been looking forward to this 👍
4:10 the boats were designed by Joseph Bazalgette who designed London's sewer system. I seem to remember in the video about the North Woolwich Railway that a nearby area was named Urinal. Is it like that all over Woolwich?
Did you remember your Duty Free allowance? LOL. We used to wind up new drivers at a company I worked for and told them all that when using the Ferry to get their allowance. I crossed with one one day and he spent the entire crossing looking for the shop, the crew were not best pleased as he was a little late back to his van.... 'Nuff said I think....
Just think Joseph Bazalgette gave us the sewer and pumping system that is still in use Today, His great Grandson gave us the Big Brother Reality show, how standards have dropped.
"You can hardly call the Isle of Wight "Overseas".
"You wanna try walking it, then"
Ooo, what a treat, morning Jago.
Could do with a pedestrian ferry or opening-bridge 1 km downstream of the current Woolwich pier. We should expect to see a barely submerged tube in piers (4-lane + pedestrian cycle) tunnel linking Connaught Bridge Road to Warspite Rd, and another linking Marsh Way to Norman Rd. This submerged tunnel on piers technique is becoming very cheap with the massive size of equipment for marine structures.
He may have been behind the sewer... but did he back it up?
On America's 245 birthday, a video is posted about a 700-year old ferry. Perspective...!
Whenever we use the Woolwich ferry my wife asks: when will they be selling duty free stuff?
Perfect title
The ferry has been a bit of a shambles in recent years, with the new ferries often out of action, alongside a lot of industrial disputes with the previous operator...
I'm looking forward to the day that the Thames water becomes clean enough for the mermaids to return.
Maybe this will happen once the Tideway project is completed: surely the Tideway project is worth a video Jago?
Or, the GLC were wound up after they wound up Margaret Thatcher (6:10)
Travelled on Dame Vera Lynn today as a result of this video
Ferry captain: who’s that who’s been Filipino me all day?
Hey Abbottt!!!! oh i mean JAAAGGOOOOO!!!!!!
awww no view of the cabin? sad...
"for that ferry reason"
"and the London Cycle hire scheme"... curse their oily hides!
Random I know but have you ever researched London’s old Menageries (if there were any) I’m aware of one that was right in the centre of Glasgow and only shut when the animals had to be evacuated during the war. My grandfather tried to adopt a monkey, my grandmother said no!
Just a idea 👍🏻
Think both Cremorne Gardens in Chelsea and Vauxhall Gardens had Menageries, plus of course the Royal One I think in the Area of St James Park.
@@highpath4776 it was more the back street versions, in working class areas of London.
@@Fees-Shed Try one of the Andrew Martin ? Historical Fiction of books of Victorian/Edwardian times.
Brilliant
how did you manage to get on it? there seems to have been no end of strike action for months now
I would be a 6ft passenger. Would i be able to fit?
see, it is a great video! :D
We've seen this building before, and i've also asked this question before, but what is that building in 5:13? The white block over the road? What is in it? What does it do?
It houses the loading ramp lifting gear
I guess the next ferries could be electric only with a lot of autonomy
Fatcher, Fatcher, council snatcher 🙃
We need a map, or a diagram, to explain where this ferry goes to and from
There was a beat group (though they went into psych territory) named after the Woolwich Ferry, who turned out this little gem: ua-cam.com/video/Fht-HvxqpSQ/v-deo.html
Wooly shites.
at 6:52 surely you mean feet, not metres?
Wasn't there a plan to build a bridge as part of the Ringway project
Yes it was to be further down near Thamesmead
Have a look at maps of this area and you can see that the current roads would line up nicely with a bridge between Becton and Thamesmead. Sadly it has never got further than the drawing board
Maybe a better name for people from Woolwich could be the Woolies!!!!
"...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!
19 is no age.
God bless the young man.
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 😂.
😂
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.
Space for 150-foot passengers? That seems a bit unnecessary. Are the Woolwichians giants?
You'd think they'd just wade across.
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!
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.
Serco : Nuclear weapons ... prisons ... immigration detention centers ...
Perhaps just abbreviating their business concerns to general all purpose evil might be more concise ?
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.
@@AntonyLvids And, expensive as well.
It certainly 'floated my boat' Jago. Another extremely interesting and very watchable video. Thank you.
> 7:53 < floated
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.
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.
Can we have a ‘Bazelgette’ episode? He’s a bit of a personal hero…
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 😂