Vital lessons learned

That 1953 was an emotional rollercoaster for New Zealanders was recalled at the 70th commemoration of the Tangiwai disaster on Sunday.

At the beginning of that year Edmund Hillary conquered Everest and near its end a beautiful young Queen Elizabeth and her husband arrived for a royal tour.

New Zealanders could hardly contain themselves, till a rude awakening came at almost year’s end in the shape of the world’s eighth-deadliest rail disaster.

At 10.21pm on Christmas Eve, the Wellington-Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, a beautiful spot roughly equidistant between Ohakune and Waiouru.

Of the 285 passengers and crew on board, 151 died when a lahar from Mt Ruapehu smashed into and weakened Tangiwai’s railway bridge.

Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton told almost 400 people gathered for the commemoration that it was important to remember what took place there.

“Here in the King Country, we are custodians of the memorials to the country’s worst railway disaster, the worst one being Tangiwai, and the third worst, the Ongarue Railway Disaster, in which 17 people died in 1923.”

It was a big responsibility to keep alive the memory of the victims for the sake of their families, he said.

Through the tragedies the country had received vital learning opportunities that had made people’s lives safer.

For example, the Tangiwai disaster had been the impetus to develop technology which to this day kept a watch on the potential for lahars on Ruapehu.

The Ongarue disaster led to strengthening train carriages and making them less fire-prone and had been the driving force behind a hospital being established in Taumarunui.

“So, there were a whole lot of things that have changed for the better since these accidents and thank goodness we haven’t had anything as serious since.

“We are in a volcanic area, which has a lot of difficult terrain. This part of the country endures the likes of weather bombs and with the landscape we have here, we are prone to disasters. But we can only learn and try to institute preventative measures. Civil defence, police, fire service and armed services all work hard to keep all these services up and running.

The civil defence emergency services response centre, which was now nearing completion at National Park, was a prime example of this, Weston said.

HOW IT HAPPENED

On Christmas Eve, 1953, the express train from Wellington to Auckland comprised a K Class steam locomotive hauling 11 carriages: five second-class; four first-class; a guard’s van and a postal van.

As the train approached the destroyed bridge over the Whangaehu River, a passerby, standing by the track made wild attempts to warn the driver by waving a torch.

The driver, Charles Parker, shut-off steam and initiated an emergency air brake application, while his fireman, Lance Redman, shut-off the oil supply valve for the machine’s fire.

These actions could not stop the train from running onto the bridge, which collapsed, sending the loco, its tender, and five second-class carriages into the river. Both driver and fireman were killed.

The leading first-class carriage teetered on the edge of the bridge before its coupling to the rest of the train snapped and it too, rolled into the river.

The remaining three first-class carriages, the guard’s van, and the postal van remained on the track.

Initially, the stricken carriages floated down the swollen river like corks but eventually sank.

In the dark, a few passengers managed to wriggle out of the windows and save themselves.

Many of the dead lost their lives not from trauma, but from drowning.
Twenty of the bodies were never found and were presumed to have been carried 120 kilometres downriver to the ocean.

Among the dead was Nerissa Love, the fiancée of cricketer Bob Blair, who was playing in a test match in South Africa at the time.

On going out to bat after his loss, Blair received a standing ovation.