Cook is a former railway town in South Australia. It is by rail from Port Augusta, by rail from Kalgoorlie, and about north of the Eyre Highway via an unsealed road.(1927)Travel in comfort across Australia on the Trans-Australian Railway. Melbourne : Commonwealth Railways. Internal map titled Map shewing Connections between Capital Cities via Trans- Australian Railway It is on the longest stretch of straight railway in the world at .
History Cook was established by the Commonwealth Railways as a railway town in 1917 on the Nullarbor Plain when the Trans-Australian Railway was opened. It was named after former Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Cook.
The town was a major centre for track maintenance and locomotive and rolling stock repairs with over 50 employees.Cook Journey Beyond It had a general store, golf course, hospital, primary school and swimming pool.Not quite a ghost town: The Australian destination with just four residents Brisbane Times 14 October 2025 Railway employees and their families depended on the weekly Tea & Sugar provisions train for the delivery of supplies until it ceased running in 1996.The Tea & Sugar Train: Lifeline in Australia's Outback National Geographic June 1986 pages 737-757Australia's longest delivery service Network February 1973 page 4Tea & Sugar bites the dust Railway Digest October 1996 page 21 When the town was populated, water was pumped from an underground artesian aquifer but later, all water was brought in by train.
In 1942, a prisoner of war camp was established in Cook with Italian prisoners assigned to work on the railway line.POWs on the Trans-Australian Railway National Archives of Australia
From a population of 200, as at 2025 Cook had a resident population of four.
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 the Australian Rail Track Corporation with visiting crews staying in the seven houses that remain in the town.
Diesel refueling facilities remain for freight train services operated by Aurizon, Pacific National and SCT Logistics with overnight accommodation for resting train crews. Cook is a calling point for the Indian Pacific where it has a two hour layover in each direction to replenish fuel and water.The Indian Pacific 2026 Timetable Journey Beyond
The crossing loop can cross trains up to long.Kalgoorlie to Serviceton & Parkes Corridor Australian Rail Track Corporation The former airstrip is known as a place to spot inland dotterel.
Climate
In popular culture 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.Nullarbor Hideout National Film & Sound Archive
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