The ''Admiraal de Ruijter'' was an international train service linking

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

with

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The train was named after the Dutch Admiral

Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...

, a remarkable choice because it was De Ruyter who attacked Britain and destroyed or seized many British navy ships during the

Raid on the Medway The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English warships laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At t ...

several centuries earlier.

History

The ''Admiraal de Ruijter'' was one of the day services in the 1987 EuroCity network. It was operated as a

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat tr ...

, the first part Amsterdam -

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...

by train, the second Hook of Holland - Harwich by boat and the last part, Harwich - London, by train. The train's classification as a day train was related to the shipping during the day seen from the Dutch side, the westbound "night train" EC ''Benjamin Britten'', connecting with the night boat ran at day time as well. In Britain the eastbound ''Admiraal de Ruijter'' was connected with the night boat and the eastbound ''Benjamin Britten'' with the day boat. Each of these trains lost its EuroCity label after one year of service because it did not meet the EuroCity criteria for service quality; sometimes other rolling stock was used and the on-board catering was minimal from the start. However, both trains also remained in the timetable, as

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

services.

Formation (consist)

The

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

used three coupled '' Koplopers'' between Amsterdam and Hook of Holland. Spoorwegen 88 p. 37 Ferries of

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland (known as SMZ or in English as Zeeland Steamship Company ) was a Dutch ferry operator that ran services from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom between 1875 and 1989.Haws (1993), p.197 History The Stoomvaart ...

(the ) or

Sealink Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included: Dover, Folkesto ...

(the MS ''St Nicholas'') provided the shipping. British Rail used its class 86 and

Mark 2 Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, m ...

coaching stock on the Harwich - London part.

References

Works cited

* {{EuroCity trains International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of the Netherlands Named passenger trains of British Rail EuroCity Railway services introduced in 1987