<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Fl\u00e8che d\u2019Or<\/i>\u00a0was introduced in 1926 as an all-first-class\u00a0Pullman<\/a>\u00a0service between\u00a0Paris<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Calais<\/a>. On 15 May 1929, the Southern Railway introduced the equivalent between London Victoria and Dover while simultaneously launching a new first class only ship, the\u00a0Canterbury<\/i><\/a>, for the ferry crossing.[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The train usually consisted of 10\u00a0British Pullman<\/a>\u00a0cars, hauled by one of the Southern Railway\u2019s\u00a0Lord Nelson<\/a>\u00a0class locomotives, and took 98 minutes to travel between London and Dover. Because of the impact of air travel and ‘market forces’ on the underlying economy, ordinary first- and third-class carriages were added in 1931. Similarly the first-class-only ferry,\u00a0Canterbury<\/i>, was modified to allow other classes of passenger.<\/p>\n The train service ceased at the outbreak of the\u00a0Second World War<\/a>\u00a0in September 1939. It resumed after the war on 15 April 1946, initially running with the pre-war Pullmans and the Trianon Bar car, a converted twelve-wheeled Pullman.[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The Southern railway flagship, the\u00a0Invicta<\/i><\/a>\u00a0replaced the\u00a0Canterbury<\/i>\u00a0from 10 October 1946.[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0As of 1949, the all-Pullman train was scheduled to depart from London Victoria at 10:30, with the connecting train from Calais reaching Paris (Gare du Nord<\/a>) at 17:30, and from Paris at 12:15, with the connecting train from Dover arriving in London at 19:30.[3]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This worked out to a scheduled journey time of 6 hours eastbound and 6 hours, 15 minutes, westbound after accounting for the one-hour difference between\u00a0Greenwich Mean Time<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Central European Time<\/a>.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n In 1951, a new set of Pullmans was built, as part of British Railways’ celebration of the\u00a0Festival of Britain<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1961, with the Kent Coast electrification scheme, the train became electric-hauled. This allowed an acceleration to 80 minutes for the down service and 82 minutes for the up service.[4]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0A decline in demand for rail travel between London and Paris saw the last\u00a0Golden Arrow<\/i>\u00a0run on 30 September 1972, and in its later years only the first class section was advertised as a Pullman service.