Southern Shorthaul Railroad was established in December 2003, when the remains of Great Northern Rail Services were purchased from CFCL Australia Pty Ltd. Jason Ferguson was then the Fleet Manager for CFCL Australia, and this company was facing a $1.3M write-off of a bad-debt from the previous owners of Great Northern. Ferguson was able to get some other good quality people to come on board as shareholders and working Directors, and together take on this debt and rebuild the company. On taking control and gaining ownership of Great Northern, the name was immediately changed to Southern Shorthaul Railroad. The debt to CFCL Australia was repaid in just under 3 years.
Current NSW rail operations primarily involve providing RailCorp with hook & pull services for their work trains (ballast cleaners, rail sets, sleeper trains, spoil trains, tracklaying and ballast trains) operating out of Chullora and Clyde in Sydney. These trains generally operate in the areas bounded by Muswellbrook, Grafton, Goulburn, Bathurst and Bomaderry (Nowra). The company also refurbishes and repairs locomotives and rolling stock at the former railway workshops in Bendigo, Victoria.[1]
SSR's locomotive fleet consists of ex-Great Northern Rail Services locomotives that are on long-term lease from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia, along with their own ex-GN S317. It started operations at the end of 2003, and its work involves shunting and trip trains in Sydney and Melbourne.[2]
B61 & B65
S317
T363 & T381
G513 & G514
GM10, GM22 & GM27
44204 & 44206
4904, 4910 & 4917
Introduction to Southern Shorthaul Railroad Pty Ltd (SSR)