ABMINGA RAILWAY SIDING

A picture says a thousand words

twas back in 1972 when it had been raining on and off for weeks which is unusual in this type of country and the line to Alice Springs was washed away in places –speed and weight limits were put in place along stretches of the line when it reopened.

The picture of Abminga shown was taken after the line was closed down and demolished in 1978, I copied it from a campers forum , the following is the story about the lost property.
A freight train from Adelaide arrived at Marree on the standard 4ft 8in line where all goods were transferred over to trucks on the 3ft 6 in narrow gauge line and taken on to the Alice, this particular train had 8 fully laden flat tops of beer , kegs –cans and bottles with just a tarpaulin covering them.

Only having transferred 3 of them and the slow mixed supply train was leaving a bit light on weight they were added to it and the rest would follow next day. The train made it to Abminga but could go no further , the line in both direction was cut owing to the flood caused by the rain , after 2 days the fettler crews had restored the line north but with an even lower weight restriction the train had to lighten up and it was decided to shunt the flat tops with the beer onto a spur and leave them till later

Three weeks later they were still there and by this time word had spread that free beer was available to all and sundry at ABMINGA. Being a very sparsly populated area and the sidings being over an hour or two apart, no towns within a hundred or so Kms one would have to assume it would be safe.

Trains operating would stop to get orders for the next section periodically , work trains also went past with big crews , the crew at the siding numbered 12 with a cook plus a few cattle station workers mustering . So it was no surprise when finally those trucks got to the Alice it was discovered that even with the tarps still tied down with ropes ,that in the cente of each truck there was nothing .

So the hunt began with railway inpectors examining the closest camps with no luck , but at Abminga it was a different story , the cook got lumbered with a carton of beer in his room , so he got the blame and sacked , no one else but him ---he was a big drinker I reckon and the inspectore went home happy, just a few months later the cook was re-employed at another camp using a different name.
Train crews got asked if we had seen anything --silly question that lmao

LONG LIVE ALL COOKS