railway industry public transport founded 19 september 1993 defunct 31 august 2004 headquarters geelong parent don gibson gary mcdonald michael menzies australian public trustees website www.wcr.com.au west coast railway was a passenger train company operating in victoria australia that operated services between melbourne and warrnambool from september 1993 until august 2004 . contents 1 history 2 rolling stock 2.1 fleet list 3 demise 4 references history edit west coast railway s s302 at warrnambool station in 2001 west coast railway was formed in 1993 when the kennett state government offered long distance country rail services previously run by the government owned operator v line to private operators . bids were lodged in february 1993 and west coast railway was announced as the successful tender on 30 april the same year . the initial franchise was for eight years with operations commencing on 19 september 1993 . 1 subsequently a three year extension was negotiated . while most other rail services tendered were replaced by road coach services west coast railway successfully tendered to retain a rail service . 2 during the 11 years of wcr operation of the line patronage increased by 20 % . 3 the first rail service under wcr operated on 19 september when v line locomotive n466 hauled the 17 00 warrnambool to melbourne spencer street service . 4 in august 2001 connex purchased a 50 % shareholding . 5 in 2003 connex sold its shareholding to australian public trustees . in 2001 the two directors of the company bought a 50 % share in tranz scenic the national passenger operator in new zealand . 6 7 in may 2004 the shareholding was sold back to toll nz . 6 rolling stock edit r711 leads a steam hauled west coast railway service out of warrnambool station in 2001 west coast railway operated rolling stock notable for being largely made up of 1950s locomotives and rolling stock bought from v line replacing the 1980s built locomotives and rolling stock that had previously operated on the line . this was in contrast to the successful tenderer for the shepparton line rail service from hoys roadlines who decided to lease rolling stock from v line . 8 the locomotives purchased from v line were 9 b class locomotives b61 b65 b75 never restored to service b76 & b80 restored for failed south australian tourist venture the murraylander s class locomotives s300 s302 s311 & s312 never restored to service t class locomotives t363 t369 & t385 the carriages purchased were s and z type steel bodied passenger carriages built between 1937 and 1959 . 10 a blue white yellow and grey livery was adopted . the first locomotive to be fully overhauled by was s300 which begun trials on 23 january 1995 entering regular service two weeks later . the railway depot at ballarat east was leased by the company as its heavy maintenance base with transfer runs being made via the geelong to ballarat line . 4 specially modified r class steam locomotives were also used to operate a saturday return service 11 12 13 becoming the fastest regular steam hauled passenger service in the world . 14 r711 entered service on regular trains on 21 november 1998 and was fitted with multiple unit control equipment for diesel electric locomotives . 4 as well as operating regular warrnambool passenger services west coast railway also ran charter services and operated special excursion trains to various destinations within victoria often in conjunction with the south western railway society . the company assisted with the restoration of a number of steam locomotives with r711 and y112 made operational and work being carried out on j536 d3 638 d3 641 and a2 986 . 4 the company also took advantage of victoria s newly privatised rail freight market by hiring its t class locomotives and occasionally its mainline fleet of b class and s class to freight operators . fleet list edit this is all items of rollingstock which were directly involved with west coast railway . diesel locomotives b61 b64 b65 b75 b76 b80 s300 s302 s311 s312 t363 t369 t385 w241 w244 steam locomotives r711 passenger carriages acz252 acz255 acz257 bz267 bz269 bz270 bs201 bs203 bs205 bs206 bs207 bs208 bs210 bs212 brs221 brs222 brs223 brs224 brs225 brs229 700bk 709bk 711bk 714bk rms2360 jra1 jta1 vlcx534q vlcx604w vzdy27 demise edit west coast railway encountered a series of operational difficulties during 2003 04 which adversely affected its business . the death of one of the company s founding principals gary mcdonald on 25 april 2003 removed the guiding light and spirit of the company . 14 the closure of the warrnambool line between melbourne and geelong for five weeks in january and february 2004 to allow its rebuilding as part of the 160 km h 100 mph regional fast rail project meant that the company had to replace rail services with road coaches during the period of the works with a resulting drop in passenger numbers . 3 in may 2004 only a short time after west coast railway s rail services resumed in march the victorian department of infrastructure issued an alert on stress cracks on the underframes of the b class and s class locomotives including the units owned by west coast railway . 3 once again the company was forced to replace two of its three daily return rail services with road coaches . 14 there had also been a change in government transport policy following the election of the bracks state government following the failure of privatisation of v line passenger with then opposition transport spokesman geoff leigh predicting the proposed re tendering of statewide regional rail operations in 2006 would result in west coast railway being executed . 15 although west coast railway stated as late as may 2004 its intention to negotiate a new contract to operate warrnambool services beyond the expiry of its existing contract in june 2004 16 with the expected locomotive repair bill to be in excess of 1 million it decided not to seek a renewal . 3 on 31 august 2004 west coast railway operated its final services with v line resuming services the following day . most of the diesel locomotives were sold to chicago freight car leasing australia . 17 r711 was allocated to steamrail victoria by its owners . other rollingstock was disposed of thus v line passenger purchased s302 pco2 acz252 acz257 and bz267 . 707 operations purchased pcp294 acz255 bz270 brs224 bs205 and bs212 steamrail victoria purchased b64 pcp292 cp291 brs 229 bz269 bs201 bs206 bs207 bk700 bk711 bk714 pacific national purchased brs221 brs222 brs223 and brs225 vans d309 d314 d315 d319 d325 d333 cp293 vlcx212h vlcx534q vlcx604w vzdy27 were sold individually . references edit agreement for the supply of passenger train services between warrnambool and melbourne victorian government history . www.wcr.com.au . 2004 08 10 . archived from the original on 2004 08 10 . retrieved 2007 01 06 . a b c d philip hopkins 2004 07 19 . end of the line for west coast rail . the age . retrieved 2006 12 17 . a b c d peter attenborough february 2004 . west coast railway . australian model railway magazine . pp. 32 34 . connex still expanding railway gazette international 1 september 2001 a b toll nz buys back tranz scenic passenger services new zealand herald 20 may 2004 tranz scenic press release 2001 06 26 . west coast railway preferred tranz scenic buyer . www.scoop.co.nz . retrieved 2007 01 06 . sid brown april 1996 . train a hoy . newsrail . australian railway historical society victorian division . west coast railway fleet specs . www.wcr.com.au . 1999 11 16 . archived from the original on 1999 10 09 . retrieved 2007 01 06 . carriage history details west coast railway west coast railway news and events . www.wcr.com.au . 2000 02 03 . archived from the original on 2000 02 03 . retrieved 2007 01 06 . steam train experience west coast railway anatomy of west coast railway s super r class steamrail victoria a b c lee robert 2007 . the railways of victoria 1854 2004 . melbourne university publishing . p. 257 . isbn 978 0 522851 34 2 . andrew heasley 2002 08 24 . state to tear up v line contract . the age . retrieved 2006 12 19 . west coast to continue rail services after contract ends . abc news australian broadcasting corporation . 2004 05 05 . retrieved 2009 12 23 . locomotive classes vicsig v t e former victorian railway companies and authorities geelong & melbourne railway company melbourne mount alexander and murray river railway company melbourne & essendon railway company melbourne & hobson s bay railway company melbourne & suburban railway company melbourne railway company st kilda & brighton railway company deniliquin & moama railway company powelltown tramway kerang koondrook tramway tyers valley tramway victorian railways rosstown junction railway & property company altona beach estates state transport authority metropolitan transit authority melbourne underground rail loop authority public transport corporation bayside trains hillside trains west coast railway hoys roadlines v line freight m train great northern rail services freight victoria freight australia connex melbourne retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title west coast railway victoria & oldid 742700604 categories defunct railway companies of australiarailway companies established in 1993railway companies disestablished in 2004veolia1993 establishments in australia2004 disestablishments in australiahidden categories use dmy dates from november 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version 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