What was the worst train wreck in New Zealand?
At 10.21 p.m. on Christmas Eve 1953 the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 10 km west of Waiōuru in the central North Island. Of the 285 passengers and crew on board, 151 died in New Zealand’s worst railway accident.
What happened in the Tangiwai train disaster?
The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953 when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people.
Who survived the Tangiwai disaster?
At Tangiwai, just 28 of the more than 170 second-class passengers survived. Only one first-class passenger was lost, along with the driver and fireman.
Who Built New Zealand Railways?
The first railway lines were built in the South Island in the 1860s. From 1870, the government worked to develop railways. They wanted railways to carry products from farms, forests and mines to markets and ports, and to provide access to land bought or confiscated from Māori, so Pākehā could settle it.
What caused the Tangiwai railway disaster 1953?
24 December 1953 The cause of the tragedy was a volcanic lahar from the Mt Ruapehu crater lake, which sent a huge wave of water, silt, boulders and debris surging down the Whangaehu River minutes before the express approached the bridge at Tangiwai.
Why is the Tangiwai disaster significant to New Zealand?
Tangiwai was the site of what is considered to be the worst railway disaster in New Zealand’s history. It happened on Christmas Eve 1953, when the passenger train travelling from Wellington to Auckland suddenly plunged into the Whangaehu river at Tangiwai and 151 people lost their lives.
How many were injured in the Tangiwai disaster?
The worst railway disaster in New Zealand’s history occurred on Christmas Eve 1953 when the Wellington-Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River just west of Tangiwai, 8 km west of Waiouru. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy left a nation in mourning, and stunned the world.
Why did the Tangiwai disaster happen?
The cause of the tragedy was a volcanic lahar from the Mt Ruapehu crater lake, which sent a huge wave of water, silt, boulders and debris surging down the Whangaehu River minutes before the express approached the bridge at Tangiwai.
Where was the Wellington train disaster in 1910?
Train disaster at Wellington kills 96 on March 1, 1910. During the early morning hours of March 1, 1910, an avalanche roars down Windy Mountain near Stevens Pass in the Cascade Mountains, taking with it two Great Northern trains and 96 victims.
Where did the train stop on the Wellington loop?
On February 23rd they pressed on through the Cascade Tunnel, but were forced to stop near Wellington, a small railroad community just east of the summit of Stevens Pass. Snow was falling at a rate of a foot an hour, and the storm was blowing it in drifts 20 feet tall.
How many cars were on the Wellington train?
There were five or six steam and electric engines, 15 boxcars, passenger cars, and sleepers. The trains had passed through the Cascade Tunnel from the east to the west side of the mountains when snow and avalanches forced them to stop near Wellington, in King County.
How many people died in the Wellington avalanche?
The bodies of the dead were transported on toboggans down the west side of the Cascades to trains that carried them to Everett and Seattle. Ninety-six people died in the avalanche, including 35 passengers, 58 railroad employees sleeping on the trains, and three railroad employees sleeping in cabins enveloped by the avalanche.