Tangiwai disaster
The wreckage of the KA locomotive, the sixth carriage and the rail bridge, in the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, 25 December 1953.
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| Date | 24 December 1953 |
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| Time | 22:21 NZDT |
| Location | Whangaehu River Bridge, Tangiwai, North Island |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Rail line | North Island Main Trunk |
| Operator | New Zealand Railways Department |
| Type of incident | Derailment |
| Cause | Bridge collapse due to lahar from Mount Ruapehu |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Passengers | 285 |
| Deaths | 151 |
| List of rail accidents in New Zealand | |
The Tangiwai disaster occurred at 22:21 on 24 December 1953 when the Whangaehu River bridge collapsed beneath a Wellington to Auckland express passenger train at Tangiwai, in the central North Island of New Zealand. The locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The subsequent Board of Inquiry found that the accident was caused by the collapse of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu's crater lake, creating a large lahar in the Whangaehu River, which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident.
On 24 December 1953 the 3 pm express from Wellington to Auckland was made up of a KA class steam locomotive hauling 11 carriages: five second class, four first class, a guard's van and a postal van. With 285 passengers and crew, it passed through Tangiwai Station on time at 10:20 pm at about 64 kilometres per hour (40 mph). Approaching the bridge over the Whangaehu River at Tangiwai, in response either to Cyril Ellis, a passerby, standing by the track and waving a torch or on seeing the condition of the bridge, an emergency brake application was made by the driver (Charles Parker – First Class Locomotive Engineer category) and the track was sanded for 128 yards through application of the sand box lever by the fireman (Lance Redman) to aid in braking the entire train. This aided in reducing the number of carriages that went into the river and thus the death toll. However, this was too late to stop the train going onto the bridge, which gave way, the locomotive, tender, and five second class carriages falling into the river. 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 a postal van remained on the track.
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