Independent Rail of Australia was an accredited railway freight operator in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia.

History

The company's origins can be traced back to 1990, when the

Lachlan Valley Railway The Lachlan Valley Railway Society is an Australian rail preservation society based in the New South Wales Central Western town of Cowra. It was established in 1974 to preserve and operate former New South Wales Government Railways locomotive ...

successfully tendered to operate wheat trains between

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

and

Cowra Cowra () is a town in the Central West, New South Wales, Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 8,254. Cowra is located approximate ...

on the Blayney to Cowra line for the Grain Handling Authority."LVR to carry wheat from Woodstock" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways in Australia. Overview The magazine is published by the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was in March 1 ...

'' January 1991 page 9 However, due to the line being closed for repairs, LVR grain services didn't commence until September 1993, with 4204 hauling the first services. In August 1994, the LVR operated wheat trains from Trajere on the Eugowra line to Cowra with 47 class locomotives. In June 1999, LVRF commenced operating trip working services between

Port Botany Port Botany is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Port ...

and the

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various developme ...

container terminal in Sydney"LVR Commences Sydney Freight Operations" ''Railway Digest'' July 1999 page 12 followed in July 1999 by a service between Cooks River and Carrington for R&H Transport Services."Lachlan Valley Rail Freight Expands Sydney Based Operations" ''Railway Digest'' September 1999 page 10 Congestion in Carrington saw the service diverted to the

Toll Holdings The Toll Group is an Australian freight company that operates a logistics and global freight forwarding network spanning 150 countries, with over 20,000 customers. Toll has more than 16,000 workers across 500 sites. Toll Holdings Pty Limited ( ...

siding at Sandgate."Lachlan Valley Rail Freight – ELs commence working Newcastle – Sydney freight" ''Railway Digest'' March 2000 page 33 By October 2006, LVRF had been sold to Stephen Heraghty of Bowport Allroads Transport and rebranded as Independent Railways of Australia. Independent Rail provided services to Tamworth,

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire Local government in Australia, local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Hi ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, Blayney,

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. I ...

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Har ...

Minto Minto may refer to: Places Antarctica *Mount Minto (Antarctica) Australia *Minto, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Minto railway station * Minto County, Western Australia * Parish of Minto, New South Wales Canada * Minto City, British ...

and the Port Botany rail freight terminals. It also operated a number of

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia, established in 2004 pursuant to the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW, foll ...

and

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation, spanning across five states and 39 worksites. ARTC continues to expand the networ ...

spoil and infrastructure trains. In June 2012, Qube Logistics announced it had purchased Independent Rail's parent company, Macarthur Intermodal Shipping Terminal, and would incorporate the Independent Rail fleet into its own.

Fleet

The LVRF fleet initially consisted of 47 class locomotives owned by the

, 44 class locomotives from the affiliated Lachlan Alco Automotive Group and ex Australian National wagons. In January 2000, LVRF commenced hiring locomotives from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and

Freight Australia Freight Australia was an Australian railway company that purchased the Public Transport Corporation, V/Line Freight business from the Government of Victoria in 1999. Initially known as Freight Victoria, it operated rail freight services and cont ...

and, in September 2000, from

Great Northern Rail Services Great Northern Rail Services was a railway operator in Victoria, Australia. Great Northern Rail Services was incorporated in July 1993 and provided locomotives and train crews to other rail operators, ran general train operations (freight and pa ...

."GNR Power in Sydney" ''Railway Digest'' October 2000 page 33 In 2005, 16 second-hand MZ III class diesels from Danish operator

Danske Statsbaner DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Denmark, Danish train operating company. It's also the largest train operating company in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train opera ...

were purchased and reclassified as the 14 class.Independent Rail Fleet
Vicsig.net In April 2009, Independent Rail purchased six 44 class locomotives from the

Hunter Valley Railway Trust The Hunter Valley Railway Trust was a collection of items located in North Rothbury, New South Wales, Australia on the site of the Rothbury Riot. It included various types of rolling stock, such as coal and freight wagons and passenger coaches, ...

, having had them on lease for a while. It also purchased a 47 class from the LVR.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official site
Freight railway companies of Australia 1990 establishments in Australia Qube Holdings