Holloway car dock explained

Holloway car dock should not be confused with Holloway and Caledonian Road railway station.

Holloway car dock
Platforms:2
Events1:Opened
Years2:1930s
Events2:closed
Years3:30 May 1960
Events3:opened
Events4:Closed

Holloway car dock was a railway station in London, England.

Cattle dock

It opened to the east of Caledonian Road as the Holloway cattle dock in 1855 and served the Metropolitan Cattle Market. The cattle dock closed in the 1930s.[1]

Car dock

The station was located on the up (towards London) side of the East Coast Main Line.[2] It had a single platform that faced two tracks and had a dock for loading cars. Car carrier service began on 30 May 1960.[3]

It became the London terminus of the seasonal Car-Sleeper Limited service to Perth, Scotland that had been running to Kings Cross from June 1955. Departures to Perth were at 21:10 each evening and the return service arrived at 05:30 each morning. The Perth overnight car sleeper service ended at Holloway in October 1965 and transferred to Kensington Olympia station from 1966 with the introduction of Motorail branded services.[1]

There was also a daytime Anglo-Scottish Car Carrier service from the Holloway dock to Edinburgh, departing on weekdays at 07:51 and with a return service arriving at 19:02.[4] In 1965 the service was promoted by British Rail with images of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 from the 1964 film Goldfinger being loaded onto the car carrier service at Holloway.[5]

The car dock was last served on 15 September 1968.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Hill, N. (2018). King's Cross Second Man: A Sixties Diesel Career. United Kingdom: Pen & Sword Books.
  2. Allen, G. F. (1981). The Eastern Since 1948. United Kingdom: I. Allan.
  3. Quick, M. E. (2014). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology. Fourth supplement. United Kingdom: Railway & Canal Historical Society.
  4. Rail Express, Motorail: Cars by Train, 6 January 2021
  5. Web site: James Bond 007 lets the train take the strain.