London & North Western Railway
 
Page 1: Holyhead Services
 
 
This page is devoted to postcards and photographs of the Holyhead services of the London & North Western Railway (LNWR). Joint service s with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway from Fleetwood are shown on Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 1. An alphabetical list of ships shown on this page is shown below. The Table beneath gives links to complete history pages on selected individual ships. Below the table is a Fleet List in chronological order.
 
Holyhead, on the Isle of Anglesey, had been the Irish mail port since the time of Queen Elizabeth I. At first mail was carried in privately owned sailing ships, but the Post Office took over towards the end of the 19th Century, running to Pigeon House Quay in Dublin. In 1918 the Irish terminal changed to the new port of Howth, although it proved to be unsuitable, and some services transferred to Dun Laoghaire (known as Kingstown between 1821-1922) in 1827 on completion of the East Pier. Howth ceased to be a mail terminal in 1834. The City of Dublin SP Co started their service betwen Holyhead and Kingstown in 1828. From 1839, the mainland ternimal moved from Holyhead to Liverpool, which was connected to London by rail. The Chester and Holyhead Railway (C&HR) was formed in 1842 to connect the port of Holyhead to the country's growing railway network. They purchased the first quartet of steamers named Anglia (1), Cambria (1), Hibernia (1) and Scotia (1) in 1847/1848, passengers initially travelling by coach from Bangor to Holyhead across Telford's suspension bridge across the Menai Straits. The Britannia railway bridge across the Straits was completed in 1850, allowing through trains to run from Liverpool to Kingstown, and the mail contract reverted to Holyhead. However, to the apparent amazement of the railway company, the steamer mail contract was given to the City of Dublin SP Co - the C&HR was so confident that they did not even bid. The C&HR amalgamated with the LNWR in 1858, with the nine C&HR steamers following in 1859. A revised mail contract with the City of Dublin SP Co was reached in 1860, and the LNWR moved its Irish terminal to Dublin North Wall until 1908.
 
The City of Dublin SP Co built four fast new steamers in 1896/1897 for their Dun Laghaire mail service, and the LNWR responded with the second quartet Anglia (2), Cambria (2), Hibernia (2) and Scotia (2) for the North Wall route. These were due to replaced by a new quartet of turbines in 1915, but construction was delayed by the war and they were not completed until 1920/1921, as Anglia (3), Cambria (4), Hibernia (3) and Scotia (3). These ships passed to the London Midland & Scottish Railway in 1923.
 
This page is still under construction
 
 
Ships on This Page:-
Arvonia (1920-1925)
Anglia (1) (1847-1861)
Anglia (2) (1899-1915)
Anglia (3) (1920-1935)
Cambria (1) (1848-1884)
Cambria (2) (1897-1920)
Cambria (4) (1921-1949)
Hibernia (1) (1847-1877)
Hibernia (2) (1899-1916)
Hibernia (3) (1920-1949)
Menavia (1920-1928)
Scotia (1) (1847-1861)
Scotia (2) (1902-1920)
Scotia (3) (1921-1940)
 
 
Associated Pages:-
British Railways - Header page for all UK railway-owned Services
British Railways - Holyhead Services
Furness Railway - Barrow-Fleetwood service with paddle steamers
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 1 - West Coast Services
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 2 - East Coast Services
London Midland & Scottish Railway - Heysham-Belfast Services
London Midland & Scottish Railway - Holyhead Services
Midland Railway - Heysham-Belfast & Heysham-Douglas Services
Ferry Postcards
Cruise Ship Postcards
Ocean Liner Postcards
Simplon Postcards Home Page
 
References:-
Maritime Heritage - Barrow & Morecambe Bay by Raymond Sankey (Silver Link, 1986)
Merchant Fleets No.25 - Britain's Railway Steamers by Duncan Haws (1993)
Railway & Other Steamers by Duckworth & Langmuir
 
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Table of Ship Histories

Name

Other names

 Built
 Duke of York (1)  Peel Castle

 1894
 
 
 
 
 
LNWR Fleet List
 
Page 1: Holyhead Services
 
 
 
Anglia (1) (1847-1861)
Cambria (1) (1848-1884)
Hibernia (1) (1847-1877)
Scotia (1) (1847-1861)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anglia (2) (1899-1915)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cambria (2) (1897-1920)
Arvonia (1920-1925)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hibernia (2) (1899-1916)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Scotia (2) (1902-1920)
Menavia (1920-1928)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anglia (3) (1920-1935)
Hibernia (3) (1920-1949)
Cambria (4) (1921-1949)
Scotia (3) (1921-1940)
 
The third quartet of railway steamers were ordered in 1914 to challenge the City of Dublin SP Co when the mail contract was to reviewed in 1915. Although work started on the first two ships, the war caused the work to be stopped. The mail contract was renewed annually in favour of the Dublin company until 1920, when it finally passed to the LNWR. The Dublin company had lost two of their ships in the war, and it was in a poor finacial state, eventually being taken over by B&I. Work resumed on all four LNWR sisters in 1919, and they were delivered in 1920/1921. The ships were extremely fast, being capable of over 25 knots. They passed to the LMS in 1923. Four ships proved to be an extravagence, and Anglia (3) was laid up at Barrow. Relief was generally provided by the Duke of Abercorn, and Anglia (3) received little use before being scrapped in 1935. Hibernia (3) was refitted in 1931 when the forward part of the promenade deck was plated in. Her sisters Cambria (4) and Scotia (3) followed suit in 1932. The were plans to replace them with new turbine steamers in 1938, due to strong competion from the new Leinster (3) and Munster (3) on the Liverpool-Dublin overnight service of B&I. The orders were cancelled at the start of WW2. Scotia (3) was lost at the Dunkirk evaquation in 1940, whilst the surviving two sisters Cambria (4) and Hibernia (3) remained on Irish Sea services throughout the war, with Cambria (4) moving to the Heysham-Belfast route. Cambria (4) returned to Holyhead after the war, but in 1947 fuel crisis, the sisters were replaced by the more economical oil-fired Princess Maud, running just one daily return service. They returned to service later in the year, and passed to British Railways on 1st January 1948, before being replaced by the new motorships Cambria (5) and Hibernia (4) in 1949.
 
 
Postcard of one the sisters at Dun Laoghaire.
Card posted fron Dun Laoghaire in 1932.
 
 
Two of the sisters at Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire).
 
 
Postcard of Cambria (4) and Hibernia (3) at Holyhead.
 
 
Sankey postcard of Anglia (3) being towed into Barrow for lay up.
 
 
Official LMS postcard of the remaining three ships, after Anglia (3) had been withdrawn.
 
 
Photograph of Cambria (4) at Holyhead.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 1 - Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway - Page 2
London Midland & Scottish Railway - Midland Railway
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