This is my recount writing about a historical event. I have fictive the Tangiwai Disaster into my own worlds that people can understand.

Wrong Place At The Wrong Time

On Christmas Eve (24 December) 1953, the Wellington-to-Auckland express train caused to leave its tracks accidentally at Tangiwai, Central North Island.

It was a fine night, after a day without rain. There was nothing to show that the Whangaehu River would be in flood when the Wellington-to-Auckland express was due to cross the rail bridge at Tangiwai.

When part of the wall holding the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu fall down, a huge flood of water and silt, known as a lahar, flowed down the side of the mountain carrying uprooted trees, rocks and ice into the Whangaehu River. A giant wave of water, mud and rocks 6 metres high hit and swept away one concrete support of the rail bridge at Tangiwai, almost 10 kilometres from Waiouru.

At 10:21 pm the express, consisting of one engine, nine carriages and two vans, and travelling at about 60 kilometres per hour, rocketed onto the weakened bridge. As the express left the bank, the rest of the bridge Fall down and the engine nose-dived off the edge into the air, almost hitting the opposite side.

The first five carriages followed, launch upwards before plummeting into the floodwaters. Four of these carriages were broken up by the force of the river waters, with little hope for the passengers.

Families owned a car, the rail journey along the North Island Main Trunk Line was a popular way to get between Wellington and Auckland.