Cook is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

and crossing loop located in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

on the

Trans-Australian Railway The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta railway station, Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie railway station, Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. Built to standa ...

. It is by rail from

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

, by rail from

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

, and about north of the

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...

via an unsealed road. It is on the longest stretch of straight railway in the world, at , which extends from Ooldea, South Australia to beyond Loongana,

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Cook is the only scheduled stop on the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

for the

Indian Pacific The ''Indian Pacific'' is a weekly experiential tourism-oriented passenger train service that runs in Australia's east–west rail corridor between Sydney, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, and Perth, on the shore of the Indian Ocean – ...

transcontinental passenger train and has little other than curiosity value for passengers strolling around while their train is replenished. Passengers are not able to start or end their journeys there.

History

Cook was established in 1917 on the

when the Trans-Australian Railway was built. It is named after the sixth Prime Minister of Australia,

Joseph Cook Sir Joseph Cook (7 December 1860 – 30 July 1947) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Australia, prime minister of Australia from 1913 to 1914. He held office as the leader of the Fusion L ...

. When the town was a major

Commonwealth Railways The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australian Railway, Trans-Australia and Adelaide-Darwin railway, Port Augusta to Darwin railways. In 1 ...

centre for track maintenance and locomotive and rolling stock repairs, it supported a school and hospital. At that time, railway employees and their families depended on two weekly provisions trains for the delivery of supplies. When the town was populated, water was pumped from an underground

artesian aquifer An artesian well is a well that brings groundwater to the surface without pumping because it is under pressure within a body of rock or sediment known as an aquifer. When trapped water in an aquifer is surrounded by layers of Permeability (ea ...

but later, all water was carried in by train. The short 1955 film ''Nullarbor Hideout'' was set in and around Cook; the first scenes give a good impression of the railway line and infrastructure, and a sense of the townspeople's isolation and their dependence on the railway.

After privatisation

In 2009, Cook was said to have a resident population of four. The town was effectively closed in 1997 when the

Australian National Railways The Australian National Railways Commission was an agency of the Government of Australia that was a railway operator between 1975 and 1998. It traded as Australian National Railways (ANR) in its early years, before being rebranded as Australia ...

' assets were sold to railway operating company Australian Southern Railroad. Ownership was later transferred to National Rail Corporation, later becoming Pacific National after a trade for the Intermodal yard facilities at

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in 2004 in preparation for the opening of the railway to Darwin. The reliability of modern diesel locomotives and the introduction of concrete sleepers and continuously welded rail rendered resident employees redundant. Track and facilities maintenance is undertaken by

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 ...

(ARTC) and diesel refuelling facilities remain for Intermodal train services and the

; there is overnight accommodation for resting

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock, jointly owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Governm ...

train crews. The

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

can cross trains up to long. The former

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

is known as a place to spot inland dotterel. As of 2016, Cook was officially described as an "unbounded locality" which is not used as an address. Since 2013, it has been administratively classified as being in the locality of Nullarbor. Image:Indian Pacific train hauled by NR class locomotive stopped at Cook, South Australia (cropped).jpg, The

train at Cook Image:Wrecked Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles at Cook, South Australia, in 2011.jpg, Disused vehicles at Cook in 2011 File:Signs on a building at Cook, South Australia.jpg, Signs on a deserted building at Cook in 2005

Climate

References

{{Journey Beyond railway stations, Indian Pacific=y, state=collapsed Railway stations in South Australia Railway stations in Australia opened in 1917 Ghost towns in South Australia Populated places established in 1917 Places in the unincorporated areas of South Australia Nullarbor Plain Trans-Australian Railway

History

After privatisation

Climate

See also

References