Spirit of the West (train)

K205 leads the Spirit of the West down the Avon Valley

The Spirit of the West was a restaurant train that operated out of Perth, Western Australia. It was the brainchild of South Spur Rail Services (SSRS) and began using four restored coaches hired from the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS) and a power car purchased from the ARHS and restored to running condition and modified by SSRS.

The train operated under the old Midland Railway Company name, an offshoot of South Spur Rail Services.

The train ran regular Sunday lunch and Saturday dinner trips from East Perth Terminal into the Avon Valley, running to West Toodyay and return.

Evening services to Leighton and return via Fremantle were halted due to vandalism on the Forrestfield to Cockburn section of the railway line.

The service received two Gold Plate awards for "Best Tourist Restaurant".

Duration

The first revenue service was on Friday, 18th of October 2002. The Spirit of the West restaurant train ceased operation on the 31st May 2008. The train was fully booked .

Rollingstock

The consist of the train usually involved a combination of the following:

	K205	South Spur Rail locomotive painted in maroon SOTW livery. Built in Queensland circa 1968.
	HRGA96L	Power van, built in West Germany circa 1950.
	26AF	Timber lounge car named the "Heritage Carriage". Built in South Australia circa 1917 and restored by the ARHS.
	D20	Dining carriage named the "Colonial Carriage". Built in South Australia circa 1917 and restored by the ARHS. Used for selective services.
	DD136F	ex Murraylander kitchen/dining car now named the "Regency Carriage". Built by Commonwealth Engineering circa 1964.
	1BRBF	Sleeping carriage named the "Federation Carriage". The first Commonwealth Railways carriage, built in New South Wales circa 1915.
	AFB137V	ex Australian Railroad Group corporate coach built circa 1952. Now named the "Imperial Carriage" and used for cocktail and corporate functions.
	EI84	observation, sleeper car (ex ARG). Built circa 1952 and now named the "Regal Carriage."

Due to the occasional motive power shortage, the Spirit of the West was sometimes hauled by another locomotive. Such rare workings have included Pacific National's Kewdale shunter 8112, SCTs Forrestfield shunter H5, and other locomotives from the South Spur Rail fleet: D49, K206, K210, KA212.

Further reading

• May, Andrew and Gray, Bill. A History of WAGR Passenger Carriages. Perth:The Author, 2006. ISBN 0-646-45902-3

External links

• Spirit of the West
• "Spirit of the West History". http://www.spiritofthewest.com.au/history.html. Retrieved 2006-12-16.