It primarily developed to service the railway due to its good water supply for steam locomotives, and is currently the location of a passing loop on the single-track line.

The location was chosen for its communications and dry climate, and its proximity to De Aar, then the centre of hostilities.

The surgeon-radiographer in charge, Major John Hall-Edwards, achieved eminence in this field, though he subsequently lost an arm through x-ray damage.

The hospital, with a capacity for some 800 patients, largely comprised tents and prefabricated huts; at the cease of hostilities, materials from the latter were used for housing at Red Location, a township for Africans outside Port Elizabeth.

In 2005 a train collision occurred in Deelfontein as a result of solder splatter bridging a relay contact and causing a wrong-side signal failure.