Southern and Silverton Rail

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C class diesel locomotive in the former 'Silverton Rail' livery.

Southern and Silverton Rail is an Australian regional rail operator providing rail freight haulage, hook and pull, terminal and shunting services, maintenance and first response/recovery services. It is accredited to operate in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia,^[1] and is today an operating division of Western Australian company South Spur Rail Services, in turn part of the Coote Industrial Group.

The Company was formed in 1886 as the Silverton Tramway Company to build and operate the Silverton Tramway, a 56 kilometre long 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow gauge railway running from Cockburn on the South Australian state border to Broken Hill in New South Wales. Gauge standardisation in 1970 made the line redundant, and the company moved into service the mining industry in and around Broken Hill.^[1]

The 1990s saw the company continued to change, relocating the majority of rail operations to Parkes, and purchasing 98 surplus diesel locomotives for the purpose of refurbishment in the sale of FreightCorp and National Rail. In 2004 Silverton operated 28 locomotives, two in Broken Hill, two in both Sydney and Melbourne and the balance out of Parkes, along with 450 freight wagons. Locomotives that have seen use with Silverton Rail include from NSW 442 class, 80 class, 45 class, 44 class, 48 class. From Victoria C class diesel locomotives.^[2]

The company took the form it is today when Western Australian company South Spur Rail Services purchased Silverton Rail in early 2006.^[3]

[edit] References

Roberts, Lew. Rails to wealth. Privately published, Melbourne, 1995.

^ ^a ^b Silverton Tramway Company (PDF). Progress in Rail Reform: Submission to the Productivity Commission. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
^ Silverton Tramway Company Ltd (HTML). NSW Parliament. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
^ Profile (HTML). South Spur Rail Services. Retrieved on 2008-03-05.