South Spur Rail Services was a

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n owned railway company that provides terminal operations and short haul rail services. In February 2006, it purchased Silverton Rail. In March 2007, it was sold to Coote Industrial, then in March 2010 to P&O Trans Australia, which in turn was acquired by Qube Holdings.

History

South Spur Rail Services was formed in January 1997 by James Wilson and his three brothers. It won a number of contracts for hauling infrastructure trains. In

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, it also provided hook-and-pull services for

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New ...

's SeaTrain service between

Kewdale Freight Terminal Kewdale Freight Terminal is a large Intermodal freight transport, intermodal Rail transport, rail facility in the Perth suburb of Kewdale, Western Australia. Branching off the Kwinana freight railway, it was built in the 1960s to replace the Per ...

and

Fremantle Port Fremantle Harbour is Western Australia's largest and busiest general cargo port and an important historical site. The inner harbour handles a large volume of sea containers, vehicle imports and livestock exports, cruise shipping and naval vis ...

. In the construction of the Perth to Mandurah railway, South Spur Rail Services diesels hauled track and sleepers over the

Mount Henry Bridge The Mount Henry Bridge carries the Kwinana Freeway and Mandurah railway line over the Canning River in Perth, approximately south of the Perth central business district. At long, it is the longest road bridge in Western Australia. It spans t ...

as far as South Perth. By 2004, it had commenced operating infrastructure trains in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In 2006, it commenced operating a service from

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

to Perth for

SCT Logistics SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. History SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tran ...

using Silverton Rail C class locomotives. Until 2008, South Spur Rail Services also operated a Restaurant Train service called the

Spirit of the West Spirit of the West were a Canadian folk rock band from North Vancouver, active from 1983 to 2016. They were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which ma ...

, using K class locomotive K205 and a number of standard gauge coaches including two hired from

Rail Heritage WA Rail Heritage WA is the local trading name of the Australian Railway Historical Society (Western Australian Division) Inc. History The Western Australian branch of the Australian Railway Historical Society was formed in February 1959. In the 19 ...

. The company acquired New South Wales railway freight company Silverton Rail in 2006 and renamed it

Southern & Silverton Rail Southern & Silverton Rail was an Australian rail operator founded in 1886 as the Silverton Tramway Company. The company operated the Silverton Tramway, conveying silver-lead-zinc concentrates from Broken Hill to the South Australian border. ...

, with this subsidiary operating South Spur Rail Services services in

. In March 2007, the company was sold to Coote Industrial. In May 2010, Coote Industrial sold South Spur Rail Services to P&O Trans Australia. P&O was in turn was acquired by Qube Holdings.

Fleet

* Mount Goldsworthy A class: A3, A5, A7, A8Port Kembla – Diesel Locomotive Fleetlisting
Light Railway Research Society of Australia * Midland Railway F Class: F40 * K class: K203, K205, K206, K210South Spur Rail Services
The Western Australian Railfan Website * KA class: KA212 * N class: NA1874 * R Class: R1902 * ZB class: ZB2120, ZB2125, ZB2129 * 600 class: 602, 603, 607

References

{{Reflist Freight railway companies of Australia Rail transport in Western Australia 1997 establishments in Australia Qube Holdings