Central Australia Railway NSU 56 Lake Eyre + cab ride

NSU56 passing Lake Eyre (south) in the South Australian outback, and a cab ride at Curdimurka over a water course that is part of the Neals River system which runs into the then dry, and usually dry salt lake, Lake Eyre which is some twelve metres below sea level. At times of heavy rainfall this river system can flood and has been the cause of many interreptions to the railway operations of the past.. The bed of the main part of the water course beneath the bridge, can also be noted as consisting of salt. NSU56 with its train consisting of a water tank and an accomodation van, was under the control of a rail recovery contractor, and was returning from Marree and heading for William Creek where rail removal had reached at that time which was December 1982.
It had taken a trainload of recovered rails to Maree during the preceding night.
The temperature the previous day had reached some 50 degrees celsius and was heading in that direction again as these shots were being taken.
At Curdimurka, the contractor, who could see I was filming the events, stopped the train and invited me to a cabride from Curdimurka and then back to experience the crossing of the long iron bridge over the nearby watercourse
mentioned above. The cab ride over the bridge is included with gratitude to the contractor. My car became bogged in the soft ground from a nearby spring after the return and the contractor gave me a hand to get it free. The locomotive and train, which was left standing, started rolling off by itself and the contractor had to take a short cut to climb aboard as it passed. The train then proceeded to William Creek. Some of the footage taken the previous day is also being posted, including the pulling up of the triangle at William Creek. From the cab of the locomotive, while departing Curdimurka is seen the water tank and water softening plant, both of which were used in steam locomotive days. This video is taken the day after the other posted video of pulling up the William Creek Triangle was taken.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• lake eyre
• nsu56
• neals
• curdimurka
• marree
• central australia railway

[flyingscrapyard]

Thankyou for having the foresight to film such a rare event in a place few would venture in those conditions. I have really been fascinated with your series so far and believe these should be included in the Nation Film and Sound Archives as a historic record. I'm looking forward to seeing more when you get them posted. Have you any with removing the rails from off the bridges?

[reidgck]

@flyingscrapyard I intend to post a video soon of the removing of the rails on the middle Tarwin river bridge but don't have any of them doing such on the old CAR dismantling although there is plenty more of that not posted. The rails were left in place by the contractors on the bridge crossed in NSU56 in the video; also on the Algebuckina bridge south of Oodnadatta but I think they are the only two. Rails on bridges on the old CAR would likely have been pulled up as the others in the video.

[MrGoblin60]

Great piece of historical footage. As I type this in March 2011 it is quite likely that the miserably desolate country depicted in the film is rich and verdant following the massive recent rain falls in the north of Australia.

[reidgck]

@MrGoblin60 It surely would be nice after all the recent rain. I heard nearby lake Eyre is full and it only fills about a couple of times a century. One of the problems, was that excess water in the waterways to Lake Eyre the railway crossed often put the railway out of business for long periods. It was really good of the contractor to give me a ride over the impressive long iron bridge from Curdimurka and back to there. That loco NSU56 is at Marree -- nex . net . au / reidgck / users / marree

[Rocketboy1950]

What a fabulous piece of railway history to have on tape. Stupid here went up and photographed the trains but it never occured to me to do the infrastructure.

[reidgck]

@Rocketboy1950 I was very fortunate to be offered the cabride by the contractor who took me over the bridge and had to return me back. I just made a playlist on the reidgck channel - click at top of page - putting together some of the videos I took of the proceedings at the time. If I get to it I'll post more eventually. Explanations are on the text associated with each video. Don't worry about getting trains and little infrastructure - I missed out on the trains so it surely balances overall.

[LMatters1]

You are to be commended on recording an invaluable piece of history. So many times we seem to focus on when a rail line opened or when a special train runs (and so on) but seemingly never on the removal / dismantling a rail line and associated infrastructure. I agree with a previous poster (flyingscrapyard) that your work should be included in the Nation Film and Sound Archives as a historic record. Well done to you and thanks for posting!

[LCRV1]

Wonder if that Bridge is still there today???

[LCRV1]

Great footage...sad it is gone now.

[STEAMRAILWAYSHOP]

Excellent...thanks for posting

[Reckklesss1]

OMG awesome bridge great vid