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A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ferries are sometimes referred to as "car ferries", as distinguished from "auto ferries" used to transport automobiles. The wharf (sometimes called a "slip") has a ramp, and a linkspan or "apron", balanced by weights, that connects the railway proper to the ship, allowing for the water level to rise and fall with the tides. While railway vehicles can be and are shipped on the decks or in the holds of ordinary ships, purpose-built train ferries can be quickly loaded and unloaded by roll-on/roll-off, especially as several vehicles can be loaded or unloaded at once. A train ferry that is a barge is called a car float or rail barge. ==History== An early train ferry was established as early as 1833 by the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway. To extend the line over the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland, the company began operating a wagon ferry to transport the rolling stock over the canal. In April 1836, the first railroad car ferry in the U.S., the ''Susquehanna'' entered service on the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland.〔 The first modern train ferry, was the ''Leviathan'', built in 1849. The Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway was formed in 1842 and the company wished to extend the East Coast Main Line further north to Dundee and Aberdeen. As bridge technology was not yet capable enough to provide adequate support for the crossing over the Firth of Forth, which was roughly five miles across, a different solution had to be found, primarily for the transport of goods, where efficiency was key. The company hired the up-and-coming civil engineer Thomas Bouch who argued for a train ferry with an efficient roll-on roll-off mechanism to maximise the efficiency of the system. Custom-built ferries were to be built, with railway lines and matching harbour facilities at both ends to allow the rolling stock to easily drive on and off the boat. To compensate for the changing tides, adjustable ramps were positioned at the harbours and the gantry structure height was varied by moving it along the slipway. The wagons were loaded on and off with the use of stationary steam engines.〔〔Marshall, John (1989). ''The Guinness Railway Book''. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-359-7〕 Although others had had similar ideas, it was Bouch who first put them into effect, and did so with an attention to detail (such as design of the ferry slip) which led a subsequent President of the Institution of Civil Engineers〔George Parker Bidder; not to be confused with the lawyer (his son)who represented Bouch at the Tay Bridge Inquiry〕 to settle any dispute over priority of invention with the observation that “there was little merit in a simple conception of this kind, compared with a work practically carried out in all its details, and brought to perfection.” The company was persuaded to install this train ferry service for the transportation of goods wagons across the Firth of Forth from Burntisland in Fife to Granton. The ferry itself was built by Thomas Grainger, a partner of the firm Grainger and Miller.〔Shipway, J.S. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.〕 The service commenced on 3 February 1850.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Subterranea Britannica: Sites:Scotland Street Tunnel )〕 It was called "The Floating Railway" and intended as a temporary measure until the railway could build a bridge, but this was not opened until 1890, its construction delayed in part by repercussions from the catastrophic failure of Thomas Bouch's Tay Rail Bridge; The largest train ferry ever built is the m.v. SKÅNE on the Trelleborg - Rostock route, built in 1998, 200.0 metres long, 29.6 metres wide, with six tracks plus two on an elevator to lower deck, having a total length of track of 1,110 metres ("Fra LILLEBÆLT til SKÅNE"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「train ferry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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