A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge that is used to transport wheeled vehicles. Dock can refer to several things: Places for the transfer of people and materials to, from, or between different forms of transport or working with transport: A maritime dock. ... The Pride of Burgundy, a P&O Ferries car ferry on the Dover-Calais route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and possibly their vehicles, on a relatively short-distance, regularly-scheduled service. ...

Tug propelled ferry barge with integral ramp at each end

Often a ferry intended for motor vehicle transport will carry its own adjustable ramp - when elevated it acts as a wave guard and is lowered to a horizontal position at the terminus to meet a permanent road segment that extends under water. In other cases, the ramp is installed at the ferry slip and is called a linkspan. Such a linkspan is adjustable to accommodate varying water heights and ferry loadings and to move it out of the way during approach and exit. If railcars are carried by the ferry the linkspan will have tracks for them. Download high resolution version (750x703, 89 KB)The Lower Kingswear to Dartmouth ferry, south Devon, England. ... Download high resolution version (750x703, 89 KB)The Lower Kingswear to Dartmouth ferry, south Devon, England. ... The word terminus is used in several different contexts including various topics: In transportation a terminus is commonly used to describe a bus station/rail station acting as an end destination. ...

Similar structures are used to receive barges, particularly if the barge is for the carriage of railcars. Not to be confused with Railroad car A railcar is a self-propelled rail vehicle designed to transport passengers. ...

An example

In the example shown below, a tugboat was positioned on the left side of the barge (our right in the apron view), pulling it with a stout rope called a springline. See Tug (disambiguation) for alternative meanings of tug. ...

Headworks to lift and lower apron

Apron for railcars

Railroad car barge slip - headworks to lift and lower apron. ... Railroad car barge slip - headworks to lift and lower apron. ... Railroad car barge slip - apron. ... Railroad car barge slip - apron. ...

Here, three tracks are provided for loading the barge. On the barge the three tracks are spread to allow clearance for the freight cars. The slip consists of pilings and guide boards to accurately position the barge relative to the apron. Once the barge is located properly, links are lowered from the linkspan to engage hooks on the barge, locking the linkspan and barge together.

While the linkspan shown could bear the weight of a locomotive, it could not withstand the traction, so a string of flatcars was used to link the locomotive to a short string of railcars, which were then moved on or off of the barge. If a locomotive was to be moved (a rare event), it would be moved by another locomotive using the same method. The auxiliary track to the left of the headworks was for storage of the flatcar string.

Historical significance of this example

This example, located in San Francisco, California, south of China Basin (and the San Francisco Giants baseball team home field) was a principal crew change point for maritime operations of the Santa Fe Railroad. It is no longer in use. It remains intact but there are no longer any connecting rails along the shoreline - once the province of the Belt Line Railroad, operated along The Embarcadero by the state of California in support of maritime traffic. This was used extensively in an era when large cargo ships would contain crates or pallets of stores, moved to and from the ship's cargo holds by crews of stevedores and on the docks by crews of longshoremen, with the ship's own spar cranes and winches used for movement. Transport to and from the docks was mostly by rail. Rather than make a long trip down the San Francisco Peninsula, railcars were barged about the bay, both by the Santa Fe and by the Southern Pacific. Southern Pacific eventually replaced their multiple tug and barge system with a single specialized ferryboat. Two ferry slips were used by Santa Fe in San Francisco, here near China Basin, and at the north edge of town near the Maritime Museum. Most traffic would be taken across the bay to Oakland or Richmond for connection with the major transcontinental rail lines, with a small amount of traffic for California's northern coastal region (the so-called Redwood Empire) passing through a slip at Tiburon on Richardson Bay. San Francisco skyline. ... A view of the playing field at Busch Stadium in Saint Louis, Missouri. ... Categories: Rail stubs | Defunct railroad companies of the United States | Arizona railroads | California railroads | Colorado railroads | Illinois railroads | Iowa railroads | Kansas railroads | Louisiana railroads | Missouri railroads | Nebraska railroads | New Mexico railroads | Oklahoma railroads | Texas railroads ... A stevedore is a person who works at loading or unloading a ship. ... A stevedore is a person who works at loading or unloading a ship. ... The San Francisco peninsula separates the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. ... The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark SP) was an American railroad. ... The historic fleet moored at Hyde Street Pier, with Alcatraz and Angel Island in the background. ... Aerial view looking west over downtown Oakland, Lake Merritt and the Port of Oakland in the upper left portion of the image. ... Richmond is a city located in Contra Costa County, California. ... The Redwood Empire (also Redwood Coast or North Coast) is a region of California that stretches from San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon coast. ... Tiburon is a town located in Marin County, California. ...

San Francisco is no longer a significant port for freight as the mode of transport is now in containers, carried by container ships. The containers are loaded on and off ships at the Port of Oakland across the bay, conveniently close to the land modes of container transport - railroad and specialized trucking. The rise of the Port of Oakland and its dominance over San Francisco as a freight port is an example of the exploitation of a disruptive technology by a competitor with a relatively insignificant investment in the older form of the technology. Containers in the port of Kotka (Finland) on the Baltic Sea. ... Categories: Stub | Commercial item transport and distribution | Ship types ... The Port of Oakland was the first major port on the Pacific Coast of the United States to build terminals for container ships. ... Diesel and electric trains and locomotives replaced steam in many countries in the decades after World War II. Many countries since the 1960s have adopted High-speed railways. ... A disruptive technology is a new technological innovation, product, or service that eventually overturns the existing dominant technology in the market, despite the fact that the disruptive technology is both radically different than the leading technology and that it often initially performs worse than the leading technology according to existing...

Facilities very similar to those pictured above were still in commercial operation as of 2004 in the Port of New York, transferring freight cars between Greenville Terminal Yard in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Bush Terminal Yard in Brooklyn, New York. They are run by the New York Cross Harbor Railroad (http://www.nyrr.com). 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The skyline of Jersey City, as seen from Lower New York Bay. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ...