On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, 1953, the Wellington-to-Auckland train
left the station with 258 people on board.
At 8:00 PM, at the top of Mt Ruapehu, the crater lake wall broke and
approximately two million cubic metres of water, ice, mud and rocks (a
lahar) flowed down the mountain and became a six-metre tidal wave in
the Whangaehu River. It reached the Tangiwai railway bridge about 10:15
PM, breaking one of its concrete pylons.
The Wellington train, with one engine, nine carriages, and two vans, was
travelling at 65 kilometres per hour towards the bridge. It reached the
weakened bridge at 10:21 PM and the engine and five carriages went
straight into the river with very few on board surviving.
The next carriage swung for a few minutes and then dropped into the river
and rolled onto the bank. All but one of these passengers survived. The
engine driver had applied the emergency brakes 200 metres before the
bridge because he saw a man waving a torch to warn him to stop. This
action saved the last three carriages.
Soldiers from Waiouru and other volunteers
spent the night rescuing who they could and
Queen Elizabeth gave four medals to
volunteers for their bravery. 134 people
survived but 151 died in New Zealand's fifth
worst disaster.
An early warning system upstream on the
Whangaehu River was subsequently installed
and in 2007 a moderate lahar caused little
damage and no injury.
How many people were on board the train?
Answers:
- 258 people on board.
- The lahar began at the top of MT Ruapehu.
- The Tanagiwai Railway disaster happened on December 24th 1953 at 10.21PM.
- The driver knew to put on emergency brakes because he saw a man waving a torch.
- The queen gave out medals to 4 volunteers for their bravery.
- An early warning system about the Whangahau River was installed.
