Rail disaster monument to be unveiled

A memorial will be unveiled north of Taumarunui on Saturday, July 8, to mark the centenary of New Zealand’s third worst railway crash.

The Ongarue Railway disaster killed 17 passengers and injured a further 28 when an Auckland to Wellington overnight express ploughed into a fresh landslip containing a three-tonne boulder.

The historic event, which took place on July 6, 1923, is to be marked at a gathering just outside Ongarue Village, which will include speeches and the unveiling of a specially commissioned monument.

The Ongarue Memorial Organising Committee in association with the Taumarunui Rail Action Centre Trust (TRACT), has invited the public to attend the ceremony at 11am, to be followed by finger food and hot beverages at Ongarue School.  

“About two years ago we decided that we needed to recognise this tragedy with an appropriate monument which would, of course, include the names of those who were killed. It would also tell the story behind the event,” Ruapehu Mayor Weston Kirton said.

“We went about getting permission from landowners but we were stalled there because of the pushback from the neighbouring landowner, so we had to revisit the location of the monument late in the process. Finally, with the consent of local people, including local iwi, it was decided to locate the monument at the junction road leading over the railway line to the village.”

The monument was built with the help of participants who gave time and materials, including Inframax Construction, roading engineers GHD, Ruapehu Concrete and others. Funding and support had been received through Kiwi Rail’s Rail Heritage Trust and private donors. Ruapehu District Council donated $16000 and the New Zealand Lotteries Grant Board $15,000.

“We have people on the committee who are really working hard to get the occasion set up and they’ve all been fantastic,” Weston said.

“For example, Ongarue School is providing a venue and the local marae is catering the refreshments.”

Stories will be told on the day, including that of Weston’s grandfather, who was station master at Taumarunui at the time of the crash.

“Most importantly this is going to be a monument that will enable future generations to understand what really happened there 100 years ago.”

When the crash occurred, the train was partially buried by the slip, three passenger carriages telescoped and acetylene gas cylinders – which at the time powered lights in the carriages – ruptured and caught fire.

The wreckage initially exploded into flames, though (according to one report) a second slide of papa-rock quickly engulfed the site, putting the fire out.

A relief train soon arrived to carry the dead and injured to Taumarunui but to reach those trapped inside, the roof and sides of the damaged carriages had to be sawn open.

Some of the injured had burns caused by the gas fire, and victims quickly overwhelmed Taumarunui’s then small cottage hospital, located in Ward St.

The crash was to transform medical services in the town and prompted the almost immediate modernisation of trains using the main trunk line.

Townspeople were determined not to be caught out the same way in future and began clamouring for a new hospital. Money was raised and the foundation stone for this was laid early the following year.

But, as well as horrifying a public for whom trains were the main means of inter-city transport, the disaster dragged the country’s Victorian era railway fleet into the 20th Century.

The Minister of Railways, Gordon Coats, ordered that passenger carriages be strengthened to reduce the possibility of telescoping and he substantially increased the first aid equipment carried in guard’s vans. More importantly, the disaster showed that converting passenger carriages from gas to electric lighting – a decision already being actioned – deserved far higher priority.

Coats wanted to see the last of the potentially dangerous acetylene gas systems.

By the end of 1923, all trains working the main trunk line had been fitted with electric lighting sets.

Weston was not sure why a monument has not previously been provided to mark the crash site, but said though the rail crash was at the time the worst the country had seen, it was to be eclipsed by worse ones.

Almost exactly 20 years later, on June 4, 1943, Ongarue’s death toll was surpassed in the Hyde railway disaster, which claimed 21 lives. Then 10 years after that, 151 people were killed in the worst railway crash in New Zealand’s history, the Tangiwai disaster.

A tribute to the rescuers

The Rail Heritage Trust has funded the publication of a book to mark the centenary of New Zealand’s third worst railway disaster.

Ongarue Railway Accident 1923 A tribute to a prompt rescue, has been written by Wellington railway enthusiast and author Les Dyne and edited by Rail Heritage Trust executive officer Barry O’Donnell.

Copies will be on sale at the unveiling of the monument to the disaster at Ongarue on July 8.

Les said the book was a tribute to his grandfather, Arthur Knight Dyne (AKD), who in 1923 was acting chief clerk at Taumarunui.

“Soon after starting his shift at 6.18am on July 6, he was presented with a ‘situation’ as initial reports of the accident at Ongarue reached Taumarunui,” Les said.

“As the most senior staff member on duty and having analysed the options, he acted promptly by taking responsibility to pilot a relief train north to the scene of the accident without first obtaining a ‘tablet’ for that section of railway, an action that put his career in jeopardy.

“The situation would turn out to be what was at that time the worst accident on New Zealand Railways, claiming 17 lives.  

“This book is also a tribute to many named and unnamed people who in the course of their regular employment made a rescue possible, and to an even greater number of unnamed people who provided welfare care and support after the event,” Les said.

“While a few paragraphs could cover the story (of the crash) this would not do justice to the number of people involved, or to the dramatic impact the accident had on many lives.”

He said many of those involved had been named in the book.

About 200 rescuers, including dozens of local residents from Ongarue, Taumarunui and Te Kūiti dealt with the crash site, while many locals also comforted and cared for injured and traumatised passengers.

Many others from Auckland and Wellington dealt with the aftermath, including doctors, nurses and additional railway workers.

“With the involvement of family members, friends and associates, the number of people directly affected by the accident would be in the thousands,” Les pointed out.

“All these people had a story to tell. And at the risk of duplicating the basic details, the stories in this book have been collated from newspaper reports of the day, and witness statements presented to the Official Board of Inquiry.

“All reflect the pain, anxiety and relief that followed the accident. Also included are snippets of social history and details of the Tyer’s Electric Train Tablet, a rail safety system developed to ensure the safety of railway travellers and railway staff.    

“This book is an acknowledgement to all those involved in the rescue effort, and to the railway staff who cleared the wreckage and relaid the track to ensure the swift resumption of train services, something they could all be proud of,” Les said.

“Today, their actions still provide a yardstick for when unexpected events suddenly intrude into our daily lives.”