Today in History

1923 Main trunk express train disaster

Early hours in the morning the Auckland−Wellington express ploughed into a huge landslip that had slumped across the tracks at Ōngarue, north of Taumarunui in the King Country. Seventeen people were killed and 28 injured.

The disaster occurred just before 6 a.m. There was no chance to stop as the train was rounding a sharp bend. Locomotive Ab 748, its tender and the following postal van were thrown off the track. The worst damage occurred further back in the train, where three wooden carriages were ‘telescoped’ by the force of the impact. At least 12 passengers were killed instantly. The engine driver and fireman both survived, but were badly scalded by escaping steam. Most of those in the sleeping cars at the rear  of the train only learned of the accident when they were woken so that their bedsheets could be used as bandages.

The Ōngarue disaster was the first major loss of life on New Zealand railways; accidents in 1899 and 1918 had each claimed four lives. It remains the country’s third-deadliest rail tragedy, behind the Tangiwai (1953) and Hyde (1943) accidents, which killed 151 and 21 people respectively.