Railway ferry "KONUNG GUSTAV V" (Sweden). Postcard

KONUNG GUSTAV V
Railway ferry

Postcard published by Verlag Schöning & Co, Lübeck.

The Konung Gustav V was a Swedish railway ferry that operated in the Baltic Sea from 1910 to 1968. It was launched in June 1909 at the Lindholmens Verkstad shipyard in Gothenburg for the Swedish State Railways (Statens Järnvägar). The ferry could accommodate up to 18 passenger cars on two tracks totaling 165 meters in length and had space for up to 975 passengers. It began regular service on 14 March 1910, on the so-called "King's Line" between Trelleborg (Sweden) and Sassnitz (Rügen, Germany), which had been inaugurated on 6 July 1909. From November 1945, the Konung Gustav V operated a ferry service from Trelleborg (Sweden) to Gdańsk (Poland), and from April 25, 1946, to the Polish port of Gdynia. During this service, more than 1,300 railway cars were transported to Poland, provided by Sweden as a contribution to postwar reconstruction. In July 1959 the Konung Gustav V was withdrawn from regular service, and in 1968 it was sold for scrap and scrapped in Ystad (southern Sweden).

Traveler's collection.