3106, assisted by two 22 Class, eases through Moss Vale with 3982 loaded flour, bound for Bomaderry. 13/4/08
The Australian Railroad Group was formed in December 2000 in Western Australia, when the (then) state government owned Westrail business (made up of both infrastructure and rolling stock assets) was sold to a joint venture between US based transport company Genesee and Wyoming and Wesfarmers, a Western Australian Rural Services Company. Genesee and Wyoming Australia at this stage already owned Australian Southern Railroad (purchased as part of the sale of Australian National in 1997). The new venture was originally named as Australian Western Railroad, with locomotives being painted in the GWA corporate scheme of black and orange. This then lead to the formation of Australian Northern Railroad from 2001 (applied to locomotives used in the construction of the Alice Springs to Darwin Line), and Australian Southern Railroad (being the locomotives in use in South Australia). Finally, in August 2002, the company name was changed to Australian Railroad Group, and new corporate locos applied in the same style as the present day GWA logo.
Australian Railroad Group (better known as ARG) started operating in NSW in 2003, after successfully outbidding Pacific National (at that time, a subsidiary of Toll Holdings) for the Manildra Group contract. The contract initially involved both the transport of domestic grain to Manildras various mill complexes (located in Gunnedah, Narrandera and Manildra), as well as the transport of milled flour and other flour products to the Manildra mill at Bomaderry, and the transport of export containers from both Manildra and Bomaderry to Port Botany (Sydney).
2208/2202/31xx southbound through Wallendbeen with 9381 from Bomaderry, bound for Narrandera in the states south-west. 9/6/08
ARG chose not to retain the contract for the transport of grain to the Manildra mills as they were unable to turn a profit on these services, and as such the contract passed over to Pacific National. For the entirity of their time operating in NSW, their distinctive locomotives could be seen hauling the various domestic flour trains from Narrandera (in the states south west), Gunnedah (north west) and Manildra (west) to Bomaderry (South Coast NSW). The flour and other flour products are transported in Manildra owned hoppers (MHGX and MGFH types). Containers are transported on either Manildra owned container flats, or wagons provided by the operator (in the case of ARG, a mix of CFCLA CQBY wagons and ARG owned WQTY/WQCY wagons). When ARG withdrew from NSW operations, the WQTY/WQCY wagons were transferred back to Western Australia.
By February 2006, Wesfarmers had negotiated the sell off of the Western Australian section of the business. Queensland Government owned QRNational purchased the rolling stock and locomotives, as well as all existing contracts held by ARG. Babcock & Brown, a Sydney based company, purchased the track and infrastructure side of the business. GWA retained ownership of South Australian assets, resulting in some classes of locomotive being split between the two operators.
On one of the last ARG-hauled Narrandera flour trains, 3102 is in the lead for the final leg to Bomaderry, seen here near Bombo. 16/11/08
Despite being owned by QRNational, the two companies were not merged into one, instead, ARG continued to operate under it’s current name (the South Australian business is now owned by and operates under the name of Genesee and Wyoming Australia), although it is often known as QRWest. Once QRNational had taken control of rolling stock and contracts, the CLP and CLF Classes were transferred to QRNationals intermodal division (operating between Melbourne and Brisbane), while their two L Class locomotives were transferred to ARG.
The loss of the Manildra Group contract in 2008 saw the withdrawl of ARG from NSW rails, with the contract passing over to Asciano Limited (formed as a result of a demerger from Toll Holdings in 2007, and retaining ownership of Pacific National and Patricks Portlink). Unable to win any other significant contracts, the decision was made to close down NSW operations as of the end of November 2008. Operation of the Manildra Group contract officially passed to Pacific National as of November 23rd.
While operating in NSW, ARG have used a number of different classes of locomotives on their trains, from various states around Australia. Towards the end of NSW operations, motive power was mostly limited to 31 and 22 Class locomotives, although ARG had also spot hired locomotives from CFCLA/SSR in 2008 during motive power shortages, including GM, KL and T Class locomotives. For a little over a month in July 2008, SCT livered G512 was also used on Manildra services, before being transferred back west in August.
2201, 2202 and 3102 slowly descend the Illawarra Escarpment with 3982 flour, shot here at Ocean View. 16/11/08
With the withdrawal of ARG from NSW, their wagons and locomotives have also vanished too. The distinctive L Class locomotives (most of them renumbered into the 31xx number series) have been returned to Western Australia, as well as all ARG owned rolling stock (mostly container flats). A number of the 22 Class have also been sent to work in Western Australia as DC22xx Class with QRNational absorbing the remaining three units (2202, 2204 and 2208) into their fleet)
Australian Railroad Group officially ceased operations in NSW on November 22, 2008, after five years (to the day) of operation in NSW. The loss of their colourful locomotives and friendly crews is a sad thing to happen, and will be missed.
Many thanks to Roy “MBAX” Marshall and Chris Walters for their assitance with information about ARG history and movements. Further thanks to Roy for all his help in recent months tracking the often elusive diesels down!
