Sighting record / 1985
Wednesday night, 16 January 1985. Westbound freight No. 1117 was labouring up a steep grade near Ooldea siding on the Nullarbor Plain. Then a bright light appeared above the locomotive. The engine lost power. The crew had to uncouple wagons to climb the hill. At Cook, Station Assistant Gary Edwards listened on the radio for over 5 minutes. He said the driver and fireman "sounded terrified". By their account the light hovered over the engine, went up steeply and crashed into the sand hills. Edwards called Pine Gap that night. Two days later the railway called it engine trouble, car lights in the bush and a joke.
The Trans-Australian Railway crosses the Nullarbor Plain on its long run between Adelaide and Perth. Ooldea siding lies on that line in South Australia, 150kms east of Cook. The press put it about 740 km north-west of Adelaide. Out here there is scrub, sand and steel rail. Woomera and Maralinga are not far away.