The world's last turntable ferry has a really clever design

When I first heard the idea of a turn table ferry, I assumed it was an early design before anyone figured out how to do ferries properly. A modern cross river ferry is built with the cabin at the side, so cars can drive on and drive off without having to awkwardly reverse. So I figured a turn table ferry like this one is going to be a prototype solution before anyone figured out how to put the cabin at the side.

当我第一次听到转盘渡轮的概念时，我认为这是早期设计，因为当时还没有人想出如何正确地设计轮渡。现代横跨河流的渡轮是在舱旁建造的，这样汽车可以方便地驶入和驶出，而不必尴尬地倒车。所以我认为像这样的转盘渡轮将是一个原型解决方案，直到有人找出如何将舱房建在旁边。

Instead of having the cars reverse off, you turn the whole car deck around. And yes, that does happen here, but the real reason for the turn table is more clever than that. And there's only one of them left anywhere in the world, here in Western Scotland, over the sea to sky.

不是让车子倒着开出去，而是把整个车厢转个方向。这种情况确实发生过，但真正的旋转台的作用还要更加巧妙。在全球，只有一个地方还残留着这样的旋转台，就在苏格兰西部，渡海相望之处。

There's been a ferry here since 1700s, people say a vehicle ferry, certainly, since the 1930s. This particular ferry has been here since the 1980s and it was operated by a man called Brody McLeod. And the tolls were removed from the sky, but he felt probably that the ferry's time was up because you could get across the bridge for nothing. So who would pay to go on the ferry? So the local community banded together and thought we can't have this. Not having the ferry is a social experiment, we don't want to be involved in. So a little group of folk got together and saved the ferry and brought it into community ownership, which it still is today.

自18世纪以来，这里一直有渡船，人们说从20世纪30年代开始就有车渡。这艘特定的渡船自20世纪80年代以来一直在这里，由一位叫做布罗迪·麦克劳德的人经营。虽然收费已经取消了，但他可能觉得渡船的时代已经结束了，因为你可以免费过桥。那谁还愿意花钱坐渡船呢？因此，当地社区团结起来，认为我们不能容忍没有渡船的情况，我们不想参与这样的社会实验。于是，一小群人联合起来，拯救了这艘渡船，并将其纳入社区所有，直至今天。

That is quite a strong current. The current can be up to nine knots in the street, but that's exceptional. Current and wind together can make things interesting. The ferry is very seldom pointing in the direction and it's actually going because of the wind and because of the tide. We often have to set the boat going in a different direction to allow us to get to where we want to go. The water here is tidal and the current is fast.

这里的水流非常强劲。在海上，水流速度每小时最高可达九节，但这比较罕见。水流和风一起会让事情变得更有趣。因为受到风和潮流的影响，渡船行驶的方向很少指向实际要去的方向。我们经常需要将船的行驶方向调整，以便能够到达目的地。这里的水是潮汐性的，水流很快。

Simple ferry designs are great if you've got steady water that's always at the same height. You boat arrives, puts down a ramp to the shore and the cars can drive on and off. But if the water's tidal, well, that ramp could need to go three or four meters up or down, depending on the time of day. So the only way it works is if you build infrastructure on the river banks, floating pontoons and large ramps that give the cars enough room to drive up and down. That's far too big and expensive for someone like this.

简单的渡船设计适用于水面平稳、高度始终相同的情况。你的船到达时，放下一条坡道到岸边，车辆就可以上下船了。但如果水位是潮汐性的，那么这个坡道可能要向上或向下移动三到四米，这取决于一天中的时段。因此，唯一可行的方法是在河岸上建造基础设施，浮动浮板和大坡道，为汽车提供足够的上下行空间。但这对像他这样的人来说太大太昂贵了。

So the obvious solution is a slipway, a boat ramp, a long, gentle approach to the water. In a lot of places that does work. Sail up to the water's edge, drop a ramp and everyone stays dry, no matter the water's height. But that means you need a long, long slipway and importantly, your boat needs to be lined up straight. Here, in this narrow channel, the current can be so strong that isn't possible. Even if you could line up straight reliably, you can only tie the boat off at the front. So the back's probably going to swing out of it.

因此，显而易见的解决方案是建造一个船坡，即一个船坡道，一条长而缓的通道通向水面。在很多地方这个方案是可行的。帆船靠近水边，放下斜坡，每个人都可以保持干燥，无论水位高低。但这意味着你需要一条长长的船坡道，重要的是，你的船需要对准直线。在这个狭窄的河道里，水流可能非常强，这是不可能做到的。即使你能够可靠地对齐，你只能在船头系住船。所以船尾可能会摇摆着脱离。

So what you want to do is what a passenger ferry does. Pull up alongside the slipway and let people get off sideways. Great for people, not so useful for cars. And that's where the turntable comes in. The turntable is a remarkable piece of Victorian engineering. It was based on the old railway turntable system. Cars could come on to the boat from any jetty at any state of the tide to then be turned round and be able to drive off. Usually it's two, but one person can turn it. A lot of oil and grease is expended and keeping it as smooth as we can.

所以你要做的就像客渡船那样。靠着卸货码头停下来，让人们从旁边下船。对于人来说非常好，但对车来说并不那么有用。这就是转盘的用处。转盘是一种非常惊人的维多利亚工程装置。它基于旧铁路转盘系统。汽车可以从任何码头上船，在任何潮汐状况下进入，然后被旋转并能够开走。通常需要两个人，但一个人也可以操作。我们花费了大量的油和润滑油来保持其尽可能的顺畅。

The way that the boat is designed, it draws virtually no draft at all forward and it's only four and a half feet at the stern. So it can come alongside in very shallow water. That was the part of the design that makes them so versatile. Very, very, very rare indeed that we can't work. It would have to be an exceptionally low tide.

这艘船的设计非常出色，它几乎没有抽水量，前端只有四英尺半高。因此，它可以在非常浅的水域停靠，这是它变得非常通用的设计特点。非常罕见的情况下我们无法工作，除非潮汐非常低。

Before the invention of the Roll-On Roll-Off Ferry, these were the original Roll-Off Roll-Off Ferrys. Now there's been a bridge across the sky, north of here since 1995. So these days this is mostly used just by locals and there's a tourist attraction in the summer. But if you are in this area, well, I'd recommend taking a diversion and driving across this way because there's only one place in the world where you can drive off a turntable like this. Thank you very much. Bye.

在滚装船 Roll-On Roll-Off Ferry 发明之前，这些便是最早的滚装船 Roll-Off Roll-Off Ferry。现在，自 1995 年以来，这里北边有一座跨越天空的桥。所以现在这个地方主要是当地人使用，夏天也有旅游吸引力。但如果你在这个地区，我建议你走这个路线，因为这是世界上唯一可以驾驶平台车下车的地方。非常感谢，再见。