The Curdimurka rail siding – near Lake Eyre South in the SA outback – saw its first train in 1888.
The last one went through in 1980, nearly three decades after the pictured water tank and gigantic water softener lost their raison d’être, when diesel electrics replaced steam locomotives in 1951.
This “big softie” was erected in 1943-44, so its working life was very brief.
(steam locos need to drink, and in most of South Australia’s outback the available water is too hard to drink, “neat”…thus the gigantic water softeners, adjacent to water tanks along the old, long-abandoned “Ghan” line)
Now literally falling apart, Curdimurka is, nonetheless, the “best-preserved” of the old Ghan line’s outback sidings.
A future multi-image post will show more of the now-disappearing traces of what was once a significant part of Australia’s transport infrastructure.
(featured image is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at Curdimurka on the morning of 10 June 2023)
Musical bonus
John Fahey (1939-2001) was a hugely eccentric and enormously influential acoustic guitarist – the father-figure of steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo, “concert” instrument.
The Last Steam Engine Train is a Fahey “original” that was obviously somewhat “informed” by Alton Delmore’s Deep River Blues.
…and here’s my favourite version of Deep River Blues:
..which may leave you wondering how on earth Doc Watson played liked that, with virtuosity so relaxed that you could easily not realise how “impossible” his playing was. (Doc was one of the most remarkable and most “musical” guitarists, period. He was also blind)
He explained, in this video:
Back home deciding what to do with Ghan track spikes
Hi Doug,
It is always great to get a fabulous photo with illuminating musical accompaniment.
Cheers Bob