Spirit of the West (train)

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K205 leads the Spirit of the West down the Avon Valley

The Spirit of the West is a restaurant train that operates out of Perth, Western Australia.

The train consists of carriages restored by the Australian Railway Historical Society, some of which are over ninety years old and in themselves are unique sole remaining examples of carriages no longer seen in service in Australia.

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

The train runs 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 first revenue service was on Friday, 18th of October 2002.

The service has been nominated for Tourism awards for its unique rolling stock and service.

1 Rollingstock
2 References
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Rollingstock

The consist of the train usually involves 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 is 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.